How does Harley solve?

Comet Harley and Edmond Harley's magnificent prophecy

In the background of the stars, the photos of Harley's comets are clearly visible in the bright spots in the center, and the light of the comet tail is weak. Picture source: NASA

How exactly is Harley's comet step by step towards a household name

British astronomer and mathematician Edmond Harley was born on November 8, 1656 in London. He was the first person to calculate the comet track. The comet was named after his surname Harley, and it is still the most famous of all comets. He also contributed to Newton's theory of gravitational development with Azak Newton. This helps to build our modern science era, part of the reason is that it helps to establish the perception of us living on a planet that runs around the sun.

When Comet Harley appeared in the sky on the earth in 1986, it was welcomed by an international spacecraft fleet in space. This famous comet will return to the 76 -year trip around the sun in 2061. The reason why it is famous is that it is often a bright comet in the sky of the earth. And its track length-76 years-the life span of humans is not much different. Therefore, for most people, there may be only one opportunity to see Harley in life. However, there is another reason for its high degree of well -known. That is, in the era of Edmond Harley, people do not know that comets are restrained by the sun like planets. They don't know that comets like Harley will return periodically. At that time, people thought that comets would only pass our solar system once. In 1704, Harley became a geometric professor at Oxford University. In the second year, he published the "Comet Astronomy Summary". This book contains the parabolic line track of 24 comets observed from 1337 to 1698. It is in this book that Harley made his grand prediction.

The portrait of Edmond Harley was drawn by Thomas Murray in 1683. Photo source: Wikikylim sharing resources

Harley's grand prediction

In his book, Harley mentioned three comets that appeared in 1531, 1607 and 1682. He used Newton's law of gravity and planetary movement theory to calculate the track of these comets. Their track shows amazing similarity. Harley made a prediction of shocking heaven. He guessed that these three comets were actually the same comet, and they returned once every 76 -year cycle.

Then he said his prediction: "Therefore, I dare to predict that it will return again in 1758."

Harley failed to witness his predictions. 16 years after his death, that is, in 1758, the comet appeared again as he predicted, shocking the scientific community and the public.

To commemorate Edmond Harley, people call the comets who have been predicted for the first time as a comet.

In 1986, when Comet Harley returned, the European spacecraft "Giotto" became one of the first batch of aerospaces that met and photographed comets in history. When Comet Harley flew away from the sun, it crossed the core of Comet Harley. Picture source: Harley multi -color camera group/Giotto project/European Air Bureau/NASA

Harley, Frantedide and Mercury Ling Ri

In the UK, the 17th century was an exciting era for scientists. When Harley was a child, the scientific revolution gave birth to the Royal Society of London. As the first batch of members of the Royal Society, doctors and natural philosophers, they will hold meetings every week. The first Royal Astronomor was John Frantedid. He was remembered by the creation of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, and the observatory still existed in the world.

In 1673, after Harley entered the Queen's College of Oxford University as a student, he met Frantedid. Harley had the opportunity to visit him several times on his observatory. During this period, Frostad had been encouraging him to explore astronomy.

At that time, the project that Franted was working was to observe and draw a northern hemisphere star map with a telescope. Harley believes that he can also be a southern hemisphere star.

Harley's South Hemisphere Exploration Road

The road of Harley began in November 1676 before he obtained a university degree. He took the ship of East India to San Helen Island, one of the most remote islands in the world, and the southernmost territory occupied by the British. His father and king Charles II provided sponsorship for his trip.

Although the bad weather brought many difficulties to Harley's work, when he returned in January 1678, he brought 341 stars' latitude and longitude records and many other observation data, including Mercury Lingri records. Regarding this time, he wrote in the record: "This scene is the most lofty feedback given to me by the Astronomical Institute so far.

On May 9, 2016, a picture of Mercury Lingri taken by Vegastar Carpentier Liard in France. In this picture, Mercury is a small black spot on the left side of the sun. Mercury Ling Ri also occurred on November 11, 2019.

Crack the password of the planet movement

Harley published his southern hemisphere star map at the end of 1678. As the first type of work, this publication has achieved great success. No one has never tried to use a telescope to determine the position of the southern hemisphere star. This catalog is Harley's glorious show as an astronomer. In the same year, he received a master's degree from Oxford University and became a member of the Royal Society. In 1684, Harley first visited Azak Newton in Cambridge. He also visited physicists and biologists Robert Tiger, architect Christopher Renne and Azak Newton, and they were trying to crack the password of the planet movement. Harley is the youngest among them. He joined the tasks of these three people and used mathematics to describe the way and reasons for planetary to move around the sun. They compete with each other and want to find the answer first to make this work very challenging. Their problem is to build a mechanical model that can make the planet running around the sun without getting out of the track or falling into the stars.

Tiger and Harley have determined that the answer to this question should be a force that keeps planets on the orbit around the stars. With the anti -squares of the distance from the star, it is the law that we know today.

Although Renn won the bonus in the end, the idea of ​​Hick and Harley was correct, they could not create a theoretical track that coincided with the observation results.

Harley visited Newton, explained the concept to him, and also explained that he could not prove this concept. With the encouragement of Harley, Newton has developed Harley's work into one of the most famous scientific works so far.

The manuscript of the third edition of the "Newton Principle" (1726) in Manchester John's John Renoz Library. Picture source wikipediaCommons

Harley becomes a royal astronomer

Harley is also known for his work in meteorology. He drawn a world map in 1686, exerting his ability to process and analyze a large amount of data.

The map marked the wind -led wind direction in the ocean and was considered the first meteorological chart published in the world.

Harley kept traveling and engaged in various projects, for example, he tried to connect the population mortality and age. These data are very important for calculating life insurance.

In 1720, Harley replaced Frantedid and became the second royal astronomer of Greenwich.

The world map drawn by Edmond Harley in 1686 indicates the direction of faith and monsoon, and is considered the first meteorological chart. Tuyuan Princeton Education Magazine

Summary: Edmond Harley, born on November 8, 1656, and Comet named after him

By: Earthsky

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