Talk:Lexell's Comet

Image
I cannot find any images of Lexell's Comet, though Messier may have done a drawing - I've added an image of 17P/Holmes as it closely resembles the descriptions of Lexell's Comet, just to give readers an indication. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Svejk74 (talk • contribs) November 21, 2008


 * Such appearance of 17P was due to very rare and unusual outburst, but D/1770 L1 appearance was accounted for close Earth fly-by (0.0146 AU). 17P appearance was very unusual, and it will be very incredible if any other comet will have such appearance. I think, comparison of D/1770 L1 with 17P must be deleted. — Chesnok (talk) 09:12, 21 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Well, the descriptions of D/1770 L1 all appear to indicate a very large coma with little or no tail - I still feel this is close to the appearance of 17P/Holmes during outburst.


 * I suppose a comparable photographed comet D/1770 L1 might be Comet IRAS-Araki-Alcock, but I can't seem to find any copyright-free images (other than the IRAS ones, which are not very helpful). Svejk74 (talk) 10:28, 21 December 2008 (UTC)


 * 17P Has very sharp coma edges like no other comets. Note the differences between 17P and C/1983 H1:


 * Image:2007-1203 17pholmes fal martinez vcastro IMG 1835.JPG
 * http://comet-seki.net/Photo/S/C1983d.jpg


 * — Chesnok (talk) 09:11, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

Impact with Jupiter?
If Lexell proposed it was disturbed in its orbit, has anyone suggested it ran into Jupiter? I recall this inference from when I first heard of it. MartinSFSA (talk) 15:03, 2 September 2010 (UTC)
 * No one. I've read a fair amount by now, too. Saros136 (talk) 22:50, 12 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Jupiter likely lifted the perihelion point and perturbed the comet outwards. Lexell's Comet could very well be 50AU from the Sun. -- Kheider (talk) 02:33, 10 September 2015 (UTC)

Suggestions for Illustrations
Rather than an image of the comet, I'd like to suggest that we consider adding the following images:


 * A simulation of how the comet would have appeared in the Earths sky at closest approach
 * A diagram of the comets position relative to the Earth at closest approach
 * A diagram showing the 'best fit' trajectory for the 1779 Jupiter encounter

I am not sure how to go about these myself, so I leave it free to other members to consider.Graham1973 (talk) 14:38, 12 February 2011 (UTC)