Observations of Comets from B.C. 611 to A.D. 1640

Williams, John

doi:10.1017/cbo9781139924085

Cited by 10 publications

(21 citation statements)

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“…The older reports often mention the color of a comet. To find observations of bluish cometary tails, we address to Svyatsky (2007), who collected astronomical events from the Complete collection of Russian chronicles; Williams (1871), who translated the Chinese annals; catalogues of Kronk (1984Kronk ( , 1999, and other numerous reports of individual European observers.…”

Section: Color Of Cometary Tailmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Indirect Solar Wind Measurements Using Archival Cometary Tail Observations

et al. 2018

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The paper addressed to the problem of the solar wind behaviour during the Maunder Minimum. Records on plasma tails of comets would allow to shed light on the physical parameters of the solar wind in the past. We analyse descriptions and drawings of comets to the eighteenth century. To differentiate dust and plasma tails, we address to their color, shape and orientation. Basing on the calculations made by F.A. Bredikhin, we found that deviation of cometary tails from the antisolar direction on average exceeded 10 • , that is typical for dust tails. Catalogues of Hevelius and Lubieniecki are also examined. The first indication of plasma tail was revealed only for Great comet C/1769 P1.

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Section: Color Of Cometary Tailmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We would like to point out two translations of the report on comet C/1462 M1 from the Chinese annals. Williams (1871) wrote that colour of a star (comet) was a bluish white, while Kronk (1984), that color was darkish white. To conclude, we did not find robust support of hypothesis that observers saw bluish tails.…”

Section: Color Of Cometary Tailmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indirect Solar Wind Measurements Using Archival Cometary Tail Observations

et al. 2018

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“…In Chancellor Williams’ account, at Sankoré University (Mali), students from all parts of West Africa and foreign countries accessed their learning chiefly in three places: Gao, Jenne and Timbuktu. The structure of this university consisted of Law, Medicine and surgery, Letters, Grammar, Geography, and Art faculties (Williams, 1987, p. 205). Sankore University prospered and became an important centre of learning in the Muslim world and even more so under the reign of Mansa Musa (1307–1332) and under the Askia Dynasty (1493–1591).…”

Section: The Origin Of African Discoursesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Al-Azhar University was founded in Cairo, Egypt, in 970 AD and in 859 in the Moroccan city of Fez, Fatima al-Fihri founded a mosque which had turned into Qarawiyin University. Williams (1987, pp. 206–207) stresses once more the transitional difficulties that came at the end of the medieval period (including the slave trade and internal wars) and the impact that the latter had on the humanity of people of African origin and their scholarship.…”

Section: The Origin Of African Discoursesmentioning

confidence: 99%

African Discourses on the Africanization and Decolonization of Social and Human Sciences

Minga

2020

Journal of Black Studies

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The purpose of this paper is to bring together some discourses from the authors of the books that made their marks in their days and from which we can learn more about the ongoing debate on decolonization and Africanization. Taking the historical perspective, first the paper builds its argument by showing how the current social science is still run according to the vestiges of orthodoxy. This is followed by a brief history of decolonial thoughts in Africa while the third point describes the challenges found in the recent debate on decolonization and leads to the conclusion that while the impact of this debate has been well documented, its discourses need to be retouched and supplemented before we could see its much bigger impact in Africa.

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“…After all, bright comets approach the Sun roughly once every five years (Hasegawa, 1980;Ho 1962). However, studies on ancient comets in traditional astronomy of India is handicapped by the fact that, unlike the existing systematic astronomical records of the Greeks and the Chinese describing pre-telescope era comets (Fotheringham, 1919;Ho, 1962;Pingre, 1783;Williams, 2014), ancient Sanskrit texts on cometary events have been lost in the ravages of time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comets, Historical Records and Vedic Literature

Gupta

2019

The Growth and Development of Astronomy and Astrophysics in India and the Asia-Pacific Region

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110 007 (India) *A verse in book one of Rigveda mentions a cosmic tree with rope-like aerial roots held up in the sky. Such an imagery might have ensued from the appearance of a comet having 'tree stem' like tail, with branched out portions resembling aerial roots. Interestingly enough, a comet referred to as 'heavenly tree' was seen in 162 BC, as reported by old Chinese records. Because of weak surface gravity, cometary appendages may possibly assume strange shapes depending on factors like rotation, structure and composition of the comet as well as solar wind pattern. Varahamihira and Ballala Sena listed several comets having strange forms as reported originally by ancient seers such as Parashara, Vriddha Garga, Narada and Garga.Mahabharata speaks of a mortal king Nahusha who ruled the heavens when Indra, king of gods, went into hiding. Nahusha became luminous and egoistic after absorbing radiance from gods and seers. When he kicked Agastya (southern star Canopus), the latter cursed him to become a serpent and fall from the sky. We posit arguments to surmise that this Mahabharata lore is a mythical recounting of a cometary event wherein a comet crossed Ursa Major, moved southwards with an elongated tail in the direction of Canopus and eventually went out of sight. In order to check whether such a conjecture is feasible, a preliminary list of comets (that could have or did come close to Canopus) drawn from various historical records is presented and discussed.

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Observations of Comets from B.C. 611 to A.D. 1640

Cited by 10 publications

References 0 publications

Indirect Solar Wind Measurements Using Archival Cometary Tail Observations

Indirect Solar Wind Measurements Using Archival Cometary Tail Observations

African Discourses on the Africanization and Decolonization of Social and Human Sciences

Comets, Historical Records and Vedic Literature

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