Palestinian Observations of the Comet of 1577

摘要

The comet of 1577, discovered and widely observed in the first week of November, was one of the intrinsically brightest comets of the past 500 years (e.g., Kronk 1999). It was also important in the history of astronomy (see, e.g., Hellman 1944; Christianson 1979; Schechner Genuth 1997; Nouhuys 1998; Granada 2006). This note calls attention to observations from Safed, Palestine (long. 35o30' east, lat. +32o58'), by Chaim Vital (b. 1542 October 11, d. 1620 April 24). In The Book of Visions (translated by Faierstein 1999), a collection of Vital's (and others') dreams and omens, he relates the following: "Rosh Hodesh, Kislev, 5338, after sunset,' a large star with a long tail, pointing upward, was seen in the southwestern part of the sky. Part of the tail was also pointing eastward. It lingered there for three hours. Then it sank in the west behind the hills of Safed. This continued for more than fifty nights." The date, the first of Kislev in the Jewish year 5338, converts to the Julian date 1577 November 11. Since the Jewish day begins at sundown, the observation was made on the evening of November 10, consistent with European observations of the comet in the southwestern part of the sky. Vital's description of a double tail - or, more accurately, of a part of the tail pointing in a different direction - was well noted by Cornelius Gemma (1578), who also published a sketch of the comet clearly showing a long, curving dust tail and a shorter, straight gas tail.2 The duration of visibility of the comet by Vital - some fifty nights - is supported by the European observations, in which the comet was seen from November into January 1578 before it faded from naked-eye visibility.