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33-524: In the early 19th century, before the break-up of comet 3D/Biela , the radiant was in Cassiopeia . In the last century the radiant of the modern weaker meteor shower was generally in the constellation of Andromeda as the name of the shower suggests, but due to its age and diffuseness meteors may appear to come from the neighbouring constellations, such as Pisces (near the star Upsilon Piscium ), Triangulum and Cassiopeia. The first known sighting of

66-553: A 'dormant' comet. There have been several attempts to identify objects discovered subsequently either as Biela's Comet or as a remnant of it. The German astronomer Karl Ristenpart attempted several times to prove a link with the comet now known as 18D/Perrine-Mrkos , which had a very similar orbit to Biela apart from a differing Argument of Perihelion . Despite this, it was not possible to prove any relationship and Perrine-Mrkos, an intrinsically faint object, has itself since been lost. Comet 207P/NEAT (P/2001 J1), discovered in 2001 by

99-410: A definitive orbit. Gauss and Olbers both noted a similarity between the 1805 and 1772 comets but they were not able to prove a link. It was Wilhelm von Biela , an army officer serving at the fortress town of Josefstadt , who observed the comet during its 1826 perihelion approach (on February 27) and calculated its orbit , discovering it to be periodic with a period of 6.6 years. At the time it

132-523: A likely orbit for any remaining parts of the comet; it was during a search using Marsden's calculations that Luboš Kohoutek discovered Comet Kohoutek . It has been calculated that the mass of the debris left in the Andromedid meteor stream is still much less than the total mass of the comet. Given that it is more likely that the main mass loss occurred near aphelion before the 1845 apparition, it seems possible that fragment A at least may still exist as

165-460: A predominantly orange or reddish colouration. In England , Lowe estimated the same shower as producing at least 58,600 visible meteors between 5.50 and 10.30 pm, observed that the meteors were much slower than the Leonids , and noted noises " like very distant gun-shots " several times to the north-west. In Burma , the 1885 shower was perceived as a fateful omen and was indeed followed swiftly by

198-619: The Astronomische Nachrichten , on subjects such as comets, the theoretical considerations of comets "falling into the Sun", Tycho Brahe , and occultations of stars by the Moon. He also published a longer work on planetary rotation, Die zweite grosse Weltenkraft, nebst Ideen über einige Geheimnisse der physischen Astronomie, oder Andeutungen zu einer Theorie der Tangentialkraft (Prague, 1836). In its preface he stated that although

231-579: The Battle of Leipzig , where he was wounded. In 1815 Biela went to Prague, where he commenced study of astronomy under Martin Alois David. He later served in Italy and was appointed the commandant of the town of Rovigo . In the field of astronomy , he specialized in observing and calculating the orbits of comets . He also did some sunspot observations and published a series of articles, mostly in

264-521: The Andromedids was December 6, 1741, over St Petersburg , Russia. Further strong showers were witnessed in 1798, 1825, 1830, 1838 and 1847. The Andromedids produced spectacular displays of several thousand meteors per hour in 1872 and 1885, as a result of Earth crossing the comet's debris stream. Schmidt , observing from Athens , said that the 1872 shower consisted mainly of faint (5th to 6th magnitude) meteors with " broad and smoke-like " trains and

297-515: The Earth, in October 1871. The theory was first proposed by Ignatius L. Donnelly in 1883, and was revived in a 1985 book and further explored in an unpublished 2004 scientific paper. However, experts dispute such a scenario - meteorites in fact are cold to the touch when they reach the Earth's surface, and there are no credible reports of any fire anywhere having been started by a meteorite. Given

330-526: The NEAT asteroid survey, was also found to have a similar orbit to Biela's Comet, and it was initially thought possible that it was in some way related to it. Propagating the very dated orbit from the 1800s, there is speculation that Biela could pass around 0.2  AU (30 million  km ) from Earth in late October 2023 and come to perihelion in December 2023, but Biela could just as easily be out by

363-562: The activity was likely from the 1649 stream. During the 2012 shower an inconspicuous maximum occurred on November 9. On December 8, 2013, Meteor specialist Peter Brown reported that the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar had recorded an outburst from the Andromedid meteors around December 6. Scientists postulated a somewhat weaker return in 2018, but a yield of up to 200 meteors an hour in 2023. 3D/Biela Biela's Comet or Comet Biela (official designation: 3D/Biela )

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396-465: The collapse of the Konbaung dynasty and the conquest by Britain. The November 27, 1885 shower event was the occasion of the first known photograph of a meteor, taken by Austro-Hungarian astronomer, Ladislaus Weinek , who caught a 7mm-long trail on a plate at his Prague observing station. Since the 19th century the Andromedids have faded so substantially that they are no longer generally visible to

429-438: The comet was again rediscovered more or less as predicted, with "Comet A" being rediscovered first, by Angelo Secchi on August 26. "Comet B" was finally relocated on September 16, and once again both nuclei alternated in brightness during the period of observation. "A" was last detected on this apparition on September 26 and "B" on September 29, in both cases by Otto Wilhelm Struve . Subsequent orbital calculations indicated that

462-536: The comet, but this idea has been out of favor since the 1950s as the processes of differentiation required to produce an iron body are not believed to occur in comets. Biela's Comet (and Comet Encke ) had a role in the now-discredited concept of luminiferous aether : its orbit was found to be shrinking in size, which was ascribed to the drag of an ether through which it orbited. Wilhelm von Biela Baron Wilhelm von Biela ( German : Wilhelm Freiherr von Biela ; March 19, 1782 – February 18, 1856)

495-449: The elliptical orbit of Biela's Comet. The 1839 apparition was extremely unfavourable and no observations were made as the comet never came closer than 1.8 AU from Earth since the comet was on the other side of the Sun. During 1839 the comet never had a solar elongation greater than 50 degrees. As of 1832, comet Biela had an Earth-MOID ( Minimum orbit intersection distance ) of only 0.0005 AU (75 thousand km). The comet

528-418: The low tensile strength of such bodies, if a fragment of an icy comet were to strike the Earth, the most likely outcome would be for it to disintegrate in the upper atmosphere, leading to a meteor air burst . On November 27, 1885, an iron meteorite fell in northern Mexico, at the same time as a 15,000 per hour outburst of the Andromedid meteor shower. The Mazapil meteorite has sometimes been attributed to

561-402: The media of the time, of the Earth's likely destruction overlooked the fact that the Earth itself would not reach this point until November 30, a month later, as pointed out by François Arago in an article designed to allay public fears. Despite this, the fact that Biela's Comet was the only comet known to intersect the Earth's orbit was to make it of particular interest, both to astronomers and

594-519: The naked eye, though some activity is still observable each year in mid-November given suitable detection equipment. In recent years, peak activity had been less than three meteors per hour, around November 9 to 14. Andromedid activity of November comes from the newest streams, while that of early December comes from the oldest. Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar (CMOR) data detected a spike of 30 meteors per hour on November 27, 2008. On December 4, 2011, six Canadian radar stations detected 50 meteors in an hour and

627-552: The node outside of Earth's orbit . There were, however, inconclusive observations during the 1865 and 1872 returns. Charles Talmage, using ephemerides provided by John Russell Hind , claimed to have briefly observed a nebulous object in approximately the right position in November 1865. James Buckingham also observed two nebulosities in 1865 after studying Hind's predictions, but Hind subsequently stated that they were unlikely to be Biela's Comet, as they were much closer together than

660-414: The nuclei had probably split around 500 days before the 1845 apparition, though more recent work has determined that it may have occurred near aphelion in late 1842. Neither part could be found on their predicted periodic returns in 1859 (in any case an unfavorable return for viewing), 1865, or 1872. However, on November 27, 1872, a brilliant meteor shower (3,000 per hour ) was observed radiating from

693-791: The orbit of Jupiter . The 1649 meteoroid stream is expected to generate a modest increase in the December 2023 activity of the Andromedids . Biela has sometimes been proposed as the source of meteoric impacts on Earth. A fringe theory links together several major fires that occurred simultaneously in America, including the Great Chicago Fire , the Great Michigan Fire , and the Peshtigo Fire , claiming that they were caused by fragments of Biela's Comet striking

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726-510: The part of the sky where the comet had been predicted to cross in September 1872. This was the date when Earth intersected the 1839 and 1846 meteoroid streams . These meteors became known as the Andromedids or "Bielids" and it seems apparent that they were produced by the breakup of the comet. The meteors were seen again on subsequent occasions for the rest of the 19th century, but have now faded away, due to gravitational perturbations moving

759-403: The public, during the 19th century. In 1832, Greek-Austrian astronomer Georgios Konstantinos Vouris published his own calculations of the elliptical orbit of the comet entitled: Elliptical orbit calculation of Biela's Comet from 96 observations of the year 1832 (Elliptische bahnbere chung des Biela'schen cometen aus 96 beobachtungen des Jahres 1832) . His article was a comprehensive overview of

792-532: The two components of the comet should have been. A puzzling observation recorded as X/1872 X1 , seen by N. R. Pogson in late 1872 from the Madras Observatory , was also speculated to be a recovery of Biela's Comet, though once again this was later shown to have been unlikely. Despite the apparent destruction of the comet, there were a number of searches for it during the later 20th century. Brian G. Marsden and Zdeněk Sekanina attempted to calculate

825-409: The two elements (usually referred to as "Comet A" and "Comet B" in modern nomenclature) alternated in brightness, developing parallel tails as they approached perihelion. Some observations indicated an "archway of cometary matter" extending between the two nuclei, which might suggest that the comet had split into many more pieces than two, but were simply too faint to be observed individually. In 1852,

858-511: The work was the fruit of many years of study, it could be read through in half an hour. Biela independently discovered two comets that others had already found (notably the Great Comet of 1823 , C/1823 Y1) and made one independent discovery of his own: the periodic Biela's Comet , which subsequently split in two and disintegrated. The lunar crater Biela is named after him. Relatively little seems to be recorded of Biela's personal life: he

891-573: Was a German - Austrian military officer and amateur astronomer . Wilhelm von Biela was born in Roßla , Harz (Northern Germany ). He was a descendant of a prominent Protestant noble family originally from what is now the Czech Republic , the family having been exiled to Saxony after its head, Friedrich von Biela, was executed in Prague in 1621 during the religious wars of the period. Biela

924-442: Was a periodic Jupiter-family comet first recorded in 1772 by Montaigne and Messier and finally identified as periodic in 1826 by Wilhelm von Biela . It was subsequently observed to split in two and has not been seen since 1852. As a result, it is currently considered to have been destroyed, although remnants have survived for some time as a meteor shower , the Andromedids which may show increased activity in 2023. The comet

957-456: Was first recorded on 8 March 1772 by Jacques Leibax Montaigne; during the same apparition it was independently discovered by Charles Messier . It was also recorded in 1805 by Jean-Louis Pons , but was not recognized as the same object. Around 9 December 1805 comet Biela passed about 0.0366  AU (5.48 million  km ) from Earth. After the 1805 apparition a number of attempts were made by Gauss (1806) and Bessel (1806) to calculate

990-516: Was made by Thomas Clausen , who had independently linked the comets. The comet appeared as predicted during its 1832 apparition, when it was first recovered by John Herschel on 24 September. The orbital elements and ephemeris calculated by Olbers for this return created something of a popular sensation, as they showed that the comet's coma would likely pass through the Earth's orbit around October 29, but at an Earth distance of about 0.55  AU (82 million  km ). Subsequent predictions, in

1023-432: Was only the third comet known to be periodic, after comets Halley and Encke . The comet was named after Biela, although there was initially some controversy due to a later but independent discovery by Jean-Félix Adolphe Gambart , who also provided the first mathematical proof linking the 1826 and 1805 comets (letters from Biela and Gambart were published in the same issue of the Astronomische Nachrichten ). A third claim

Andromedids - Misplaced Pages Continue

1056-405: Was rediscovered on November 26, 1845, by Francesco de Vico . Initially sporting small, faint nebulosities, subsequent observations showed that something remarkable had happened to it. Matthew Fontaine Maury , observing on 14 January 1846, noted that an apparent companion was located 1 arc minute north of the comet. After this announcement many astronomers began observing the comet, and noted that

1089-588: Was the last member of his branch of the family. After study at military college in Dresden , Biela joined the Austrian army in 1802, serving as a cadet in the Infantry Regiment 'Graf Stuart' Nr. 18. He rose to the rank of a captain of Grenadiers and participated in a number of military campaigns against Napoleon between 1805, 1809 and later on. In 1813 he was an Adjutant to General Merveldt at

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