Talk:Great Comet of 1577

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 19 August 2019 and 6 December 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): KimChilly.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 22:39, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Travelled above the atmosphere
This tiny tidbit in the article makes me cry out for more detail -- how did Brahe work out that the comet travelled above the atmosphere? What about his observations led him to that conclusion? Collabi 09:21, 30 March 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm not sure. Sorry. I'll try to work on that one. ♣   ÅñôñÿMôús   Dîššíd3nt  10:11, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Detect the comet at distance of 317 AU
Is it possible to detect the comet at its current distance of 317 AU? We know where the comet is. Could the Hubbell telescope or successor to the Hubbell telescope see something? How bright is the comet? Mschribr (talk) 09:45, 12 August 2008 (UTC)


 * The Very Large Telescope had a hard enough time detecting Halley's Comet in 2003, when Halley was only 28AU from the Sun. At 300AU comets are pathetically faint.-- Kheider (talk) 10:27, 7 September 2012 (UTC)

Contemporary References
There is a reference to the comet in a Scottish chronicle.

"1577. The fyrst d. of Nowember thair rais a come in the sowt-sowth-vest wt a gret beme rysand up asclent fra it, passand a gret space in the firmament."

(1577. The first d[ay] of November there rose a comet in the south-south-west, with a great beam rising up aslant from it, passing [through] a great space in the [dome of the] sky.)

The Julian calendar was in effect at the time, 1577 -- a difference of 13 days from the calendar of the 21st century -- so the date given is accurate.

This is published in a volume called Extracta E Variis Cronici Scotiae: From the ancient Manuscripts in the Advocates Library in Edinburgh published by the Abbotsford Club in 1893.

The 1577 comet entry comes directly after a 1575 entry about a deformed calf born locally, and is very likely to have been written in 1577; it is part of some marginalia & addendums in the handwriting of the 16th century, added to a much older chronicle. These are known as the "Rosslin" additions, as the chronicle was in the possession of the Sinclair family of Rosslin from about 1550. E Kane109.144.143.2 (talk) 12:30, 2 November 2015 (UTC)

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Wiki Education assignment: History of Science
— Assignment last updated by K8shep (talk) 16:15, 22 March 2024 (UTC)


 * I added information about what Tycho Brahe used to measure the comet I added my source as well which was Tycho Brahe and the great comet of 1577
 * ~ MatthewAYoung (talk) 17:43, 1 March 2024 (UTC)


 * I added "independently discovered by Indian observers" and "Ārif Qandahārī, in his account of Tārikh-i Akbar Shāhī" into the other observer's paragraph. In the future expand on the observations of the indian observers.
 * In the future, I plan to expand the contributions made by the other observers in a new section, separating Tycho Brahe's contributions from others.
 * ChristianLowes 20:55, 1 March 2024 (UTC)


 * Today I'll be Re-organizing the section on "Observations by Brahe and Others" by splitting apart paragraphs and adding a new section "Observations around the world" ChristianLowes 16:21, 12 April 2024 (UTC)


 * I'm adding an updated art and literature section. I added more pieces of lit mainly a piece by Chaim Vital and art being comet tracts I also added a piece about German Broadsides and how they were used to talk about the comet of 1577

MatthewAYoung (talk) 18:32, 14 April 2024 (UTC)


 * I updated the lead section of the article to follow a more standard format of being a short summary of the article.

MatthewAYoung (talk) 01:00, 20 April 2024 (UTC)


 * I found a source for the Akbarnama Vol III, and added to the paragraph on Indian observers, as well as additions I was waiting to substantiate. ChristianLowes 05:19, 20 April 2024 (UTC)