User:ChrisitanLowes/Great Comet of 1577

From my Evaluation: -Christian Lowes Section: Observations by Brahe and others


 * The Second paragraph references Johannes Kepler by stating his mother took him to view it. It could be improved by removing, or going into details of other early astronomers who witnessed the comet, and were influenced by it.


 * Throughout, the topic changes between observations by different astronomers and findings by Brahe. This could be improved by separating the observations and findings by making another section dedicated the the scientific findings after the observations.
 * Needs tidied up to fix multiple one sentence lines/ paragraphs.

Section: Contemporary References


 * This section has many direct quotes from books, and some that are poorly cited.

Article changes
3/1/24 - Christian

From: Additionally it was also observed by Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, who recorded the comet's passage in the Akbarnama.

To: Several other observers recorded seeing the comet: ...... [ Additionally, it was independently discovered by Indian observers Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, who recorded the comet's passage in the Akbarnama, and Ārif Qandahārī, in his account of "Tārikh-i Akbar Shāhī".

3/8/24 - Christian

Seperating: Several other observers recorded seeing the comet: The astronomer Taqi al-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf recorded the passage of the comet. The Sultan Murad III saw these observations as a bad omen for the war and blamed al-Din for the plague which spread at the time. Other observers include Helisaeus Roeslin, William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, Cornelius Gemma, who noted the comet had two tails and Michael Mästlin also identified it as superlunary. This comet and the observation that it was traveling on the earth’s atmosphere was also what helped Maestlin to explain the gaps in Copernicus’s planetary system. According to Maestlin, a comet would carry its own orb, since he considered comets to be part of the heavenly objects. These orbs, he suggested, are what fill the gaps in Copernicus’s system. Additionally it was independently observed by Indian observers Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, who recorded the comet's passage in the Akbarnama, and Ārif Qandahārī, in his account of Tārikh-i Akbar Shāhī.

-->To it's own section:;

3/21/24 -Christian ; Rewriting /separation of section, adding notes into draft

4/11/24 - Christian: Added Observations by Tycho Brahe & modified section to be more concise. (Edits underlined)

Observations by Tycho Brahe


Tycho Brahe, who is said to have first viewed the comet slightly before sunset on November 13 after having returned from a day of fishing, was the most distinguished observer and documenter of the comet's passing.

Sketches found in one of Brahe's notebooks seem to indicate that the comet travelled close to Venus. These sketches depict the Earth at the center of the Solar System, with the Sun and moon in orbit and the other planets revolving around the Sun, a model that was later displaced by heliocentricity. Brahe made thousands of very precise measurements of the comet's path, and these findings contributed to Johannes Kepler's theorizing of the laws of planetary motion and realization that the planets moved in elliptical orbits. Brahe made these measurements using a 16 inch radius quadrant, which he used to measure the altitude and azimuth of the comet. In order to compare to the comet to known stationary celestial objects Brahe used a simple sextant which was simply a graduated sixth of a circle. Kepler, who was Brahe's assistant during his time in Prague, believed that the comet's behavior and existence was proof enough to displace the theory of celestial spheres, although this view turned out to be overly optimistic about the pace of change. Brahe's discovery that the comet's coma faced away from the Sun was also significant. (Citation needed)

One failing of Brahe's measurements was in exactly how far out of the atmosphere the comet was, and he was unable to supply meaningful and correct figures for this distance; however, he was, at least, successful in proving that the comet was beyond the orbit of the Moon about the Earth, and, further to this, was probably near three times further away. He did this by comparing the position of the comet in the night sky where he observed it (the island Hven, near Copenhagen) with the position observed by Thadaeus Hagecius (Tadeáš Hájek) in Prague at the same time, giving deliberate consideration to the movement of the Moon. It was discovered that, while the comet was in approximately the same place for both of them, the Moon was not, and this meant that the comet was much further out.

Brahe's finding that comets were heavenly objects, while widely accepted, was the cause of debate up until and during the seventeenth century, with many theories circulating within the astronomical community. Galileo claimed that comets were optical phenomena, and that this made their parallaxes impossible to measure. However, his hypothesis was not widely accepted.

Observations around the World
Using all the records to estimate the orbit, it seems that the perihelion was on October 27. The first recorded observation is from Peru on November 1: the accounts noted that it was seen through the clouds like the Moon. It is recorded in the Codex Aubin as appearing on Wednesday the 6th of November, 1577 as a “smoking star” in the Nahuatl-language text of folio 60v. On November 7, in Ferrara, Italy, architect Pirro Ligorio described "the comet shimmering from a burning fire inside the dazzling cloud." On November 8, it was reported by Japanese astronomers with a Moon-like brightness and a white tail spanning over 60 degrees.

Other observers include Helisaeus Roeslin, William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, Cornelius Gemma, who noted the comet had two tails and Michael Mästlin also identified it as superlunary. This comet and the observation that it was traveling on the earth’s atmosphere was also what helped Maestlin to explain the gaps in Copernicus’s planetary system. According to Maestlin, a comet would carry its own orb, since he considered comets to be part of the heavenly objects. These orbs, he suggested, are what fill the gaps in Copernicus’s system.

The astronomer Taqi al-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf recorded the passage of the comet. The Sultan Murad III saw these observations as a bad omen for the war and blamed al-Din for the plague which spread at the time.

In India astronomers Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak and Ārif Qandahārī recorded the comet's passing and believed the comet influenced assassination of Shah Ismail of Persia, son of Shah tahmasp on 26th Nov. 1577.  Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak recorded the comet's passage in his Akbarnama,  noting that the comet had a long tail and was visible for 5 months. Ārif Qandahārī treated the comet as a brilliant sight and assigned no explicit evil, in his account of Tārikh-i Akbar Shāhī, describing the comet as "a bright star with many small fragments appearing like a Cyprus tree, becoming known as the long tailed star".

As a young boy, Johannes Kepler was taken by his mother to see the comet.

influenced assassination of Shah Ismail of Persia, son of Shah tahmasp on 26th Nov. 1577.

Peer Review Response (TNT)
Lead- Add sentence(s) to cover topics throughout article. Move Sentence about distance from sun to Sixth Paragraph rather than Lead.

Content-


 * Observation section Reorganization - In process/ a current goal
 * Splitting Observation section into Brahe's Observations & other's Observations - In process/ current goal
 * Section on possible characteristics of the comet or events caused by comet (bad Omens) - have some sources on assassination blamed on comet & thoughts by astronomers in india
 * Expand Art & literature section on variety of information - Section is small, I've not found more sources for this section, can look for more things
 * More citations on last section (Contemporary references) - Citations are written in but not cited per Wikipedia's standard, needs fixed/improved