The Great Comets of 1843 and 1882 at Their Previous Return to Perihelion in the Twelfth Century: One Spectacular, the Other Dull

TL;DR

This paper investigates the historical appearances of two famous Kreutz sungrazers at their previous perihelion, providing new insights into their visibility, morphology, and fragmentation based on historical and observational data.

Contribution

It offers a detailed analysis of historical observations and models of the 12th-century precursors of the 19th-century sungrazers, revealing their visibility conditions and fragmentation behavior.

Findings

The 1106 comet was visible in daylight with a long tail.

The 1138 comet could not have been seen in daylight and was discovered after perihelion.

Fragmentation of the 1138 comet involved five major fragments.

Abstract

New insights into the history of C/1843 D1 and C/1882 R1, the two celebrated Kreutz sungrazers, are provided by assessing evidence on their appearance at the previous perihelion return, known as X/1106 C1 and the Chinese comet of 1138 (Ho's No. 403), respectively. The conditions differed vastly because of disparities in geocentric distance, solar elongation, and phase correction (forward scattering), all linked to the arrival times (early February vs early August). The conclusions include: the daytime sighting of the 1106 comet by Sigebert de Gembloux is consistent with expectation and so are the accounts of an exceptionally long tail observed later in twilight; the comet reached perihelion only hours before its daytime detection; the 1138 comet could have never been sighted in daylight or discovered much earlier than it actually was, in early September, one month after perihelion; at discovery, the tail is predicted to have reached elevations of 15-30 deg, while the head was only 10 deg above horizon, when observed from moderate northern latitudes; the notion that Kreutz sungrazers at perihelion between mid-May and mid-August could not be seen from the ground except possibly in daylight is misleading; the appearance of the 1138 comet's nucleus after its tidal fragmentation at perihelion is modeled on the assumption that it consisted of five major fragments (including C/1882 R1 and C/1965 S1); and unpredictable morphological changes with time in the 1882 sungrazer's split nucleus are discussed.