The Great January Comet of 1910 (C/1910 A1): A Key Opportunity Missed by New Zealand Astronomers

TL;DR

The paper investigates the historical observation records of the Great January Comet of 1910 in New Zealand, revealing it was under-observed locally and often confused with Comet Halley, highlighting a missed scientific opportunity.

Contribution

It provides a detailed historical analysis of New Zealand's observation efforts for C/1910 A1 and compares them with international records, emphasizing the missed opportunity for local astronomers.

Findings

Few observations of C/1910 A1 were made in New Zealand.

Many observations were misidentified as Halley’s Comet.

The apparition was under-observed in New Zealand compared to other regions.

Abstract

C/1910 A1 was one of the Great Comets of the twentieth century. Although it was widely observed from the Northern Hemisphere, it was first discovered by observers south of the Equator. The comet arrived just months before the widely anticipated apparition of Comet 1P/Halley and was significantly more spectacular. As a result, the two comets were confused, and many who, in later years, talked about how prominent Comet 1P/Halley was in 1910 were often remembering C/1910 A1. In this paper, we present the results of a detailed search through historical records and media publications in Aotearoa / New Zealand, to investigate how extensively C/1910 A1 was observed from New Zealand. We compare our results with observations reported for Comet 1P/Halley later in 1910, finding that surprisingly few observations of C/1910 A1 were made by New Zealand observers. We discuss cases where the comet was misidentified as being an early sighting of 1P/Halley and compare the observations made in New Zealand with international observations/records/accounts. We find that, although the Great January Comet of 1910 was observed from New Zealand, it was witnessed by few compared to other parts of the world, meaning that the apparition of C/1910 A1 was something of a missed opportunity for New Zealand astronomers.