Discovery of Great Comet of 1843

The Great Comet of 1843, formally C/1843 D1, appeared suddenly in the southern hemisphere in the early months of the year and soon became one of the brightest comets of the nineteenth century. In March it was visible in broad daylight close to the Sun, and later its tail stretched across a large part of the evening sky, one of the longest ever recorded. It belongs to the Kreutz group of sungrazing comets, fragments of a single larger body that pass very close to the Sun. Observers in Chile, South Africa, Tasmania and Europe tracked it, and its orbit was calculated by astronomers who found it came within a short distance of the solar surface. Its appearance caused wonder and, among some religious groups, apocalyptic expectations.

Open on the timeline