Great Comet of 1843

C/1843 D1
(Great Comet of 1843)
A painting of the Great Comet of 1843, as seen from Tasmania, by Mary Morton Allport
Discovery
Discovery date5 February 1843
Designations
1843 I
Orbital characteristics[3][4]
Epoch27 February 1843 (JD 2394259.411)
Observation arc45 days
Number of
observations		200
Orbit typeKreutz sungrazer
(Population I)
Aphelion~156 AU
Perihelion0.00553 AU (1.19 R☉)[1][a]
Semi-major axis~78 AU
Eccentricity0.99993
Orbital period~600–800 years[2]
Max. orbital speed566.6 km/s[1]
Inclination144.36°
3.527°
Argument of
periapsis		82.639°
Last perihelion27 February 1843[1]
TJupiter0.006
Physical characteristics
Mean radius
24.75 km (15.38 mi)[5]
Mass7.30×1017 kg[6]
Comet total
magnitude (M1)		4.9[7]

The Great Comet of 1843, formally designated C/1843 D1 and 1843 I, was a long-period comet which became very bright in March 1843 (it is also known as the Great March Comet). It was discovered on February 5, 1843, and rapidly brightened to become a great comet. It was a member of the Kreutz sungrazers, specifically the Population I subgroup that originated from the breakup of a large parent comet in February 1106.[5] These comets pass extremely close to the surface of the Sun—within a few solar radii—and often become very bright as a result.

Perihelion

First observed in early February, 1843, it raced toward an incredibly close perihelion of about 827,000 km (~132,000 km from the surface of the Sun) on February 27, 1843;[a] at this time it was observed in broad daylight roughly a degree away from the Sun.[8] It passed closest to Earth on March 6, 1843, at a distance of 0.84 AU,[8] and was at its greatest brilliance the following day; unfortunately for observers north of the equator, at its peak it was best visible from the Southern Hemisphere.[9] It was last observed on April 19, 1843. At that time this comet had passed closer to the Sun than any other known object.

C/1843 D1 perihelion (closest approach to the center of the Sun) on 27 February 1843[1]
(The Sun has a radius of 696000 km)
Perihelion
(Sun approach) 		Earth distance
(AU) 		Sun centerpoint distance
(AU) 		Velocity
relative to Earth
(km/s) 		Velocity
relative to Sun
(km/s) 		Solar
elongation
27 February 1843 ≈21:59 0.993 AU (148.6 million km; 92.3 million mi; 386 LD) 0.00553 AU (827 thousand km; 514 thousand mi; 2.15 LD) 552.4 566.6 0.29°

Physical characteristics

Nucleus size

Estimates in 2022 based on reconstructions of the origin of Kreutz sungrazers revealed that the nucleus of the Great Comet of 1843 possibly was about 24.75 km (15.38 mi) in effective radius, with a mass of approximately 7.30×1017 kg before it disintegrated upon perihelion.[5][6]

Tail

The Great Comet of 1843 developed an extremely long tail during and after its perihelion passage. At over two astronomical units in length, it was the longest known cometary tail until measurements in 1996 showed that Comet Hyakutake's tail was almost twice as long. There is a painting in the National Maritime Museum that was created by astronomer Charles Piazzi Smyth with the purpose of showing the overall brightness and size of the tail of the comet.

Orbit

Estimates for the orbital period of the comet have varied from 512±105 years (Kreutz's classical work from 1901),[10] 654±103 years,[2] 687 years,[3] and 742 years.[2] But the comet was only observed over a period of 45 days from March 5 to April 19, and the uncertainties mean it likely has an orbital period of 600 to 800 years.[2]

Recent studies in 2022 and 2025 further solidified the link between the comets of 1106 and 1843 after their orbits were traced back to the comet witnessed by Ammianus Marcellinus in 363 AD.[11][12]

Musical depiction

The Mexican composer Luis Baca composed a waltz for piano, El cometa de 1843. It appeared as no. 13 in Instructor filarmónico, periódico semanario musical, Tomo primero (Mexico, 1843).

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b The comet passed about 0.00553 AU (1.19 R☉) from the center of the Sun[1] which is (0.19 solar radii * 695700 km) = 132,000 km (82,000 mi) from the surface of the Sun.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Horizons Batch for C/1843 D1 on 1843-Feb-27" (Perihelion occurs when rdot flips from negative to positive). JPL Horizons. Retrieved 8 September 2023. (Orbit is probably very poorly determined)
  2. ^ a b c d P. W. Chodas; Z. Sekanina (2008). "A New Orbit Determination for Bright Sungrazing Comet of 1843". The Astrophysical Journal. 687 (2): 1415–1422. Bibcode:2008ApJ...687.1415S. doi:10.1086/592081.
  3. ^ a b Horizons output. "Barycentric Osculating Orbital Elements for Great March comet (C/1843 D1) at epoch 1900". Retrieved 29 August 2023. (Solution using the Solar System's barycenter (Sun+Jupiter). Select Ephemeris Type:Elements and Center:@0)
    WARNING: Orbit is probably very poorly determined
    **PR= 2.51E+05 / 365.25 = 687 years**
  4. ^ "C/1843 D1 (Great March Comet) – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 21 February 2026.
  5. ^ a b c Z. Sekanina; R. Kracht (2022). "The Great Comet of 1106, a Chinese Comet of 1138, and Daylight Comets in late 363 As Key Objects in Computer Simulated History of Kreutz Sungrazer System". arXiv:2206.10827 [astro-ph.EP].
  6. ^ a b M. M. Knight; M. F. A'Hearn; D. A. Biesecker; G. Faury; et al. (2010). "Photometric Study of the Kreutz Comets Observed by SOHO from 1996 to 2005". The Astronomical Journal. 139 (3): 926–949. Bibcode:2010AJ....139..926K. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/139/3/926.
  7. ^ D. Milon; G. Solberg; R. B. Minton (1967). "The Magnitude of Comet Ikeya-Seki 1965f". The Strolling Astronomer. 20 (9–10): 165–173. Bibcode:1967StAst..20..165M.
  8. ^ a b D. K. Yeomans (April 2007). "Great Comets of History". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
  9. ^ "Great Comets in History". Archived from the original on 22 August 2004. Retrieved 7 February 2006.
  10. ^ H. Kreutz (1901). "Untersuchungen über das System der Cometen 1843 I, 1880 I und 1882 I. III. Theil" [Investigations into the system of comets 1843 I, 1880 I and 1882 I. (Part III)]. Astronomische Abhandlungen als Ergänzungshefte zu den Astronomische Nachrichten (in German). 1: 1–90. Bibcode:1901AAAN....1....1K.
  11. ^ Z. Sekanina (2022). "Unprecedented Daylight Display of Kreutz Sungrazers in AD 363?". arXiv:2202.01164 [astro-ph.EP].
  12. ^ Z. Sekanina (2025). "The Great Comets of 1843 and 1882 at Their Previous Return to Perihelion in the Twelfth Century: One Spectacular, the Other Dull". arXiv:2505.14662 [astro-ph.EP].
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