C/1811 F1

The Great Comet of 1811 (formally designated C/1811 F1) was a comet that was visible to the naked eye for around 260 days. In October 1811, at its brightest, it displayed an apparent magnitude of 0, with an easily visible coma. In December one length of the double tail extended for over 60 degrees. It was categorized as a Great Comet, the 54th in recorded history and one of eight in the 19th century.

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In many ways the comet was quite similar to Comet Hale-Bopp. It became spectacular without passing particularly close to either the Earth or the Sun, but had an extremely large and active nucleus. It was discovered on March 25, 1811 by Honor? Flaugergues at 2.7 AU from the sun and confirmed by Jean-Louis Pons and Franz Xaver, Baron Von Zach in April.

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The sightings continued until June when it was lost to solar glare. It was recovered in August as a 5th magnitude object. The comet brightened as it approached perihelion in September and its minimum distance from Earth at 1.1 AU. The comet nucleus was estimated at 30-40 km in diameter and the orbital period was calculated at 3,757 years (later adjusted to 3,065 years).

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In total, the comet was visible to the naked eye for 9 months, a record it held until the appearance of Comet Hale-Bopp.

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At the mid-point of War and Peace, Tolstoy describes the character of Pierre observing this comet.

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Comet: A comet is a small body in the solar system that orbits the sun and (at least occasionally)...

Naked eye: A naked eye is a figure of speech, referring to human visual perception unaided by enhancing equipment such as a telescope or binoculars. Often used in astronomy when referring to events that can be viewed by the general public, for example astronomical conjunctions, comets or meteor showers....

Day: See also Day (language)...

C/1811 F1 related Images and Photos (experimental)

I.F.1. No Contesta	Ponte Vecchio c.1811	F1 2010 (PS3)	F1 2010 (X360)
Head of the Virgin c.1811	Ferrari F1 2003	Rouen F1 Grand Prix c.1965	1996 McLaren F1 GTR
Monaco Grand Prix F1 c.1958	Monaco Grand Prix F1 c.1960	DotCom - ERROR: Keyboard not attached. Press F-1 to continue.	1937 Monaco Grand Prix F1 Race