<p>The quotation is probably referring to The Great Comet of 1861.</p>
<p>According to this Wikipedia article: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/1861_J1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/1861_J1</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>The comet may have interacted with the Earth in an almost
unprecedented way. For two days, when the comet was at its closest,
the Earth was actually within the comet's tail, and streams of
cometary material converging towards the distant nucleus could be
seen.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This was reported in newspapers at that time:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/424095911/?terms=comet%20tail&amp;match=1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.newspapers.com/image/424095911/?terms=comet%20tail&amp;match=1</a></p>
<p>and also prior to the close approach of Borelli's Comet in 1903.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/85101704/?terms=%22%20borelli%20comet%22&amp;match=1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.newspapers.com/image/85101704/?terms=%22%20borelli%20comet%22&amp;match=1</a></p>
<hr />
<p>From  this archive of <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110903033117/http://cometography.com/lcomets/1861j1.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">C/1861 J1 (Great Comet of 1861)</a> from <a href="http://cometography.com/lcomets/1861j1.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://cometography.com/lcomets/1861j1.html</a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/lo7Wy.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/lo7Wy.jpg" alt="C/1861 J1 (Great Comet of 1861)" /></a></p>
<hr />
<p>Further reading:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?great_comets" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Great Comets in History</a> by Donald K. Yeomans (April 2007) JPL/Caltech</li>
<li><a href="https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi?find_body=1&amp;body_group=sb&amp;sstr=1861J1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Comet C/1861 J1 (Great comet)</a> in JPL Horizons database</li>
<li><a href="http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1995PASJ...47..699H" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Periodic Comets Found in Historical Records</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.astroscu.unam.mx/rmaa/RMxAA..51-2/PDF/RMxAA..51-2_rbranham.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Do Comets C/1861 G1 (THATCHER) And C/1861 J1 (Great Comet)
Have a Common Origin?</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.icq.eps.harvard.edu/publ.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">International Comet Quarterly</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.icq.eps.harvard.edu/marcus_icq29_39.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Forward-Scattering Enhancement of Comet Brightness. I. Background and Model</a> (large PDF, Int Comet Quart April 2007)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.icq.eps.harvard.edu/marcus_icq29_119.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Forward-Scattering Enhancement of Comet Brightness. II. The Light Curve of C/2006 P1 (McNaught) </a> (large PDF, Int Comet Quart October 2007) also <a href="http://www.icq.eps.harvard.edu/marcus_icq29_119.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.icq.eps.harvard.edu/C2010X1_ICQ_MSS-R2.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Forward-Scattering Enhancement of Comet Brightness. III. Prospects for C/2010 (Elenin) as viewed from the Earth and SOHO, STEREO-A, and STEREO-B spacecraft</a> (large PDF, Int Comet Quart August 2011?) also <a href="http://www.icq.eps.harvard.edu/C2010X1_ICQ_MSS-R2.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a></li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-09T02:23:31.047Z
Excellent first answer, thank you! Yes this must be it! I've added some additional links for further reading, I hope you don't mind.
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-24T00:46:15.103Z
Sorry, I've been retired a long time and haven't kept abreast of the latest devwlopments.
D. Halsey
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-24T00:48:29.953Z
Thanks, and congrats on retirement! :-)
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-22T23:29:06.770Z
fyi 1) I've just added a bounty to [What comet's tail did Earth pass through before Halley's?](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/39723/7982) and 2) I saw your profile; any suggestions on [Generate a mesh from my polygon geometry to iterate FEM for geometry optimization?](https://stackoverflow.com/q/78055800/3904031) it seems Gmesh can probably do it and be called from Python?
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-08T23:25:52.673Z
2020-11-09T02:28:30.087Z
2020-11-09T02:28:30.087Z
D. Halsey
<p><a href="https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/a/39713/7982">This answer</a> to <em>Any record of the Earth passing through the tail (not trail) of a comet?</em> mentions</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Earth passed through the tail of Halley's Comet in 1910. It caused a bit of a panic due to claims that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanogen" rel="nofollow noreferrer">cyanogen</a> detected in the tail would cause harm: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halley%27s_Comet#1910" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halley%27s_Comet#1910</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>and links to the February 8, 1910 New York Times item <a href="https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/02/08/104920328.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Comet's poisonous tail; Yerkes Observatory Finds Cyanogen in Spectrum of Halley's Comet</a> which includes the following sentence:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Only once, as far as known, has the earth passed directly through the tail of a comet, and at that time no unusual phenomena were noticed except that there were abundant showers of meteors.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> What comet's tail did Earth pass through before Halley's? This should be a <em>recorded</em> historic event, but it wouldn't necessarily have to have been recognized as such at the time. The goal here is to figure out most likely what event is being described in the quoted sentence.</p>
<hr />
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/uDCzO.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/uDCzOl.png" alt="Comet's poisonous tail https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/02/08/104920328.pdf" /></a> (click for larger)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-08T04:08:15.630Z
companion questions: [What were they expecting to see when Halley's comet appeared in 1910?](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/39722/7982) and [Any record of the Earth passing through the tail (not trail) of a comet?](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/39712/7982)
uhoh
<history><comets><meteor-shower><halleys-comet>
What comet's tail did Earth pass through before Halley's?
uhoh
# What comet's tail did Earth pass through before Halley's?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-11-08)

[This answer](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/a/39713/7982) to *Any record of the Earth passing through the tail (not trail) of a comet?* mentions

> Earth passed through the tail of Halley's Comet in 1910. It caused a bit of a panic due to claims that [cyanogen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanogen) detected in the tail would cause harm: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halley%27s_Comet#1910>

and links to the February 8, 1910 New York Times item [Comet's poisonous tail; Yerkes Observatory Finds Cyanogen in Spectrum of Halley's Comet](https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/02/08/104920328.pdf) which includes the following sentence:

> Only once, as far as known, has the earth passed directly through the tail of a comet, and at that time no unusual phenomena were noticed except that there were abundant showers of meteors.

**Question:** What comet's tail did Earth pass through before Halley's? This should be a *recorded* historic event, but it wouldn't necessarily have to have been recognized as such at the time. The goal here is to figure out most likely what event is being described in the quoted sentence.

---

[![Comet's poisonous tail https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/02/08/104920328.pdf](https://i.sstatic.net/uDCzOl.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/uDCzO.png) (click for larger)

**Tags:** history, comets, meteor-shower, halleys-comet
> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: companion questions: [What were they expecting to see when Halley's comet appeared in 1910?](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/39722/7982) and [Any record of the Earth passing through the tail (not trail) of a comet?](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/39712/7982)  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-11-08. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

The quotation is probably referring to The Great Comet of 1861.

According to this Wikipedia article: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/1861_J1>

> The comet may have interacted with the Earth in an almost
> unprecedented way. For two days, when the comet was at its closest,
> the Earth was actually within the comet's tail, and streams of
> cometary material converging towards the distant nucleus could be
> seen.

This was reported in newspapers at that time:

<https://www.newspapers.com/image/424095911/?terms=comet%20tail&match=1>

and also prior to the close approach of Borelli's Comet in 1903.

<https://www.newspapers.com/image/85101704/?terms=%22%20borelli%20comet%22&match=1>

---

From this archive of [C/1861 J1 (Great Comet of 1861)](https://web.archive.org/web/20110903033117/http://cometography.com/lcomets/1861j1.html) from <http://cometography.com/lcomets/1861j1.html>

[![C/1861 J1 (Great Comet of 1861)](https://i.sstatic.net/lo7Wy.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/lo7Wy.jpg)

---

Further reading:

* [Great Comets in History](https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?great_comets) by Donald K. Yeomans (April 2007) JPL/Caltech
* [Comet C/1861 J1 (Great comet)](https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi?find_body=1&body_group=sb&sstr=1861J1) in JPL Horizons database
* [Periodic Comets Found in Historical Records](http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1995PASJ...47..699H)
* [Do Comets C/1861 G1 (THATCHER) And C/1861 J1 (Great Comet)
  Have a Common Origin?](http://www.astroscu.unam.mx/rmaa/RMxAA..51-2/PDF/RMxAA..51-2_rbranham.pdf)
* [International Comet Quarterly](http://www.icq.eps.harvard.edu/publ.html)
* [Forward-Scattering Enhancement of Comet Brightness. I. Background and Model](http://www.icq.eps.harvard.edu/marcus_icq29_39.pdf) (large PDF, Int Comet Quart April 2007)
* [Forward-Scattering Enhancement of Comet Brightness. II. The Light Curve of C/2006 P1 (McNaught)](http://www.icq.eps.harvard.edu/marcus_icq29_119.pdf)  (large PDF, Int Comet Quart October 2007) also [here](http://www.icq.eps.harvard.edu/marcus_icq29_119.pdf)
* [Forward-Scattering Enhancement of Comet Brightness. III. Prospects for C/2010 (Elenin) as viewed from the Earth and SOHO, STEREO-A, and STEREO-B spacecraft](http://www.icq.eps.harvard.edu/C2010X1_ICQ_MSS-R2.pdf) (large PDF, Int Comet Quart August 2011?) also [here](http://www.icq.eps.harvard.edu/C2010X1_ICQ_MSS-R2.pdf)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Excellent first answer, thank you! Yes this must be it! I've added some additional links for further reading, I hope you don't mind.  
> **username_0**: fyi 1) I've just added a bounty to [What comet's tail did Earth pass through before Halley's?](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/39723/7982) and 2) I saw your profile; any suggestions on [Generate a mesh from my polygon geometry to iterate FEM for geometry optimization?](https://stackoverflow.com/q/78055800/3904031) it seems Gmesh can probably do it and be called from Python?  
> **username_1**: Sorry, I've been retired a long time and haven't kept abreast of the latest devwlopments.  
> **username_0**: Thanks, and congrats on retirement! :-)  

---

