Google is celebrating Edmund Halley's birthday today, so it seemed like a good time to mention something that's been on my mind. It's about life, wonder, and celestial bodies.
Halley's Comet is somewhat unique, being the only short period comet visible to the naked eye. "Short period" here is something of an astronomy-centric phrase, given that it only appears every 75 years. I think a big part of the magic of Halley's Comet lies in the breadth of that period. It's just about the length of a human life, which means if you remember seeing the comet, you're unlikely to live long enough to see it again; though your children most certainly will. We divide much of our time up according to celestial events - the solar day, the lunar month - and Halley's Comet feels as if it fits into that, a pendulum marking out a human lifespan with each swing.
The question is, will our increasing lifespans erode that magic? When the comet swept its fiery tail over Halley's head, a man his age could expect to see 70. A child born in the same country today can expect to live to 80, enough time to appreciate two appearances if the timing is right. What happens as life expactancy creeps into 90, 100? Will Halley's Comet become a antiquated clock, running to some obsolete timeframe?
What else might we look to mark our generational change? The comet Swift-Tuttle has a periodicity of 133 years, primed to take on the mantle of life-clock from Halley. It's next appearance is 2126, in case you're wondering. But Swift-Tuttle is only sometimes visible to the naked eye, its appearances will be restricted to those who care to turn eye to glass. But it does have another side: it sweeps dangerously close to Earth with every pass, and in 4479 will come uncomfortably close. Large and fast moving, Swift-Tuttle is a planet-killer in the making. Perhaps that, if anything, is a suitable memento mori for the post-centennial generation.
- Log in to post comments
My great-great aunt, who passed away in 2000, just shy of her 100th birthday, was one of those lucky folks to have experienced two passages of Comet Halley. However, being not a very astronomy-minded person, she didn't have much interest in the recent one (which I remember seeing through my dad's telescope -- calling it "naked eye" was pushing it that time 'round). I asked her once what it was like to see the comet in 1910, but she couldn't remember. Apparently it wasn't all that exciting to her.
I couldn't understand that until years later, when Comet Hale-Bopp made its stunning appearance. Several of my college classmates expressed a total disinterest in it. Stunningly beautiful comet, but some just didn't care. Shiny thing in the sky. So what? That made me sad.
Though I'm not likely to live to see Halley again, I hope I do. I do have a shot at it. I just hope I'm not totally batty by then. :-D
I took my small boat out before dawn a few years ago to be sure I caught the first transit of Venus across the Sun in a few hundred years. I hope I will get to do so again. I also hope I'm not using the same little boat. It was worth the slightly fried retinal tissue.
you guys who say yes are mentaly retarted because it has been around all of these years and a ton of people still love halley's comet
Being 44 I can remember when Haley went cruisin by! Was right around when my cousin Haley was born, so methinks it was her namesake!!