Unraveling the Connection Between Halley’s Comet and the Birth and Death of Mark Twain

Allegation:

American writer Mark Twain was born and died during the days when Halley’s Comet passed by the Earth.

Evaluation:

What’s True:

Halley’s perihelion, the comet’s closest approach to the sun, occurred in 1835 and 1910, the years of Twain’s birth and death.

The wrong one:

The comet was not at its closest point to Earth at the time Twain was born and died.

“Dubbed”weird but perfect ending“,”The death of American author Mark Twain had the same adventurous narrative as some of his most beloved and classic storytelling. Famously, the “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” author said: “I came with Halley’s Comet… and I hope to go out with it.”

Details of the death of the literary icon revealed shared against social mediaIt is often noted that Twain’s birth and death coincided with the passage of the periodic comet, such as to post Posted on X (formerly Twitter) on February 22, 2024:

Halley’s perihelion – its closest approach to the sun – occurred in 1835 and 1910, the years of Twain’s birth and death. However, the comet was not at its closest point to Earth on the days when Twain was born and died, as is implied by the claim that the comet “passed” by the planet on those dates. That’s why we rated this claim as “Mixed.”

Snopes spoke with NASA Chief Historian Brian Odomdated 14 October 2021 “955 Years Ago: Halley’s Comet and the Battle of Hastings.” In it, Johnson Space Center’s John Uri wrote:

The story continues

According to this Mark Twain House and MuseumThe American author, whose name is Samuel Clemens, was born on November 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri. He died on April 21, 1910, at the age of 74. The museum noted: Not during the years when Twain was “born and died during the years when Halley’s Comet passed by Earth” – when it was closest to it.

Halley passed perihelion 16 November 1835and data released by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory show the comet is above its next perihelion 20 April 1910 – The day before Twain died.

Because comets are subject to the laws of physics, it can take days, weeks, or even longer for them to pass by Earth. News reports from 1910 suggest that Halley’s Comet was most visible in the United States from May 18 to 20, but Wired reported that the comet was at its brightest from May 14 to 22. The fact that Halley was so visible during this time period shows that the comet was at its closest position. It points to the Earth, also known as perigee. Regardless, this occurred about a month after Twain’s death.

The Library of Congress wrote that Halley’s 1910 passage was particularly newsworthy because “newspaper predictions of the impact of Halley’s Comet caused public fear and mass hysteria.” Before the comet arrived, some scientists reportedly said that cyanogen gas in its tail could end all life on Earth, leading to public concern about the “end of the world.”

It should come as no surprise that Halley’s appearance impressed Twain, and so did the author. credited As he said shortly before his death:

The periodic comet, formally known as 1P/Halley, moves backwards relative to the Earth’s motion, or backwards around the sun. On average, this orbit lasts about 75 years, although this period varies depending on the gravitational effects of the surrounding planets. Halley’s transit is measured from perihelion to perihelion, which is the closest distance to the sun; Its shortest orbit was 74.42 years between 1835 and 1910. NASA.

It was discovered by Edmond Halley in 1705 and “Summary Astronomia Cometicae,Halley was the first comet scientifically proven to return to Earth. Since then, the comet has been used in antiquity for more than two thousand years, including its feature in the famous Bayeux tapestry depicting the 1066 Norman-French Battle of Hastings. is associated with observations and British armies.

(Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons)

“Called” by NASAcosmic snowball“Comets are composed of dust, rock, and ice that decay over time. With each orbit around the Sun, Halley, which is approximately 9.3 miles by 5 miles in diameter, is estimated to lose between 10 and 10 feet of material. Halley will remain in its orbit for at least 16,000 years and ( (since the average periodic comet makes about 1,000 orbits around the Sun) a few more will be visible for another 60,000 years.

Halley is the only comet that is visible to the naked eye and can be seen twice in a human lifetime. NASA. On its return to the inner solar system, Halley spews ice and rock into space, causing twice-yearly meteor showers, the Eta Aquarids in May and the Orionids in October.

Halley’s Comet photographed in Arequipa, Peru, in 1910. (Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons)

Resources:

1P/Halley – NASA Science. https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/comets/1p-halley/. Access date: 28 February 2024.

955 Years Ago: Halley’s Comet and the Battle of Hastings – NASA. October 14, 2021, https://www.nasa.gov/history/955-years-ago-halleys-comet-and-the-battle-of-hastings/.

1909Obs….32..175L Page 175. https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1909Obs….32..175L#:~:text=1835)%20was%20first%20detected%20by,(1773)%20at%20176%20Gorrespondence. Access date: 28 February 2024.

Biography – Mark Twain House. June 5, 2017, https://marktwainhouse.org/about/mark-twain/biography/, https://marktwainhouse.org/about/mark-twain/biography/.

Comets – NASA Science. https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/comets/. Access date: 28 February 2024.

Great Comets in History. https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sb/great_comets.html. Access date: 28 February 2024.

Halley, Edmond. Summary of Astronomy of Comets. 1705, https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/synopsisofastron00hall.

“https://Twitter.Com/Hollow_maven/Status/1760766068149096549.” X (Formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/hollow_maven/status/1760766068149096549. Access date: 28 February 2024.

“https://Twitter.Com/Rainmaker1973/Status/1760641993233818058.” X (Formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1760641993233818058. Access date: 28 February 2024.

“Is It True That Mark Twain Was Both Born and Died on the Day Halley’s Comet Passed by Earth?” Quora, https://www.quora.com/Is-it-true-that-Mark-Twain-was-both-born-and-died-on-the-same-day-that-Halleys-comet-passed-Earth . Access date: 28 February 2024.

“Mark Twain’s Strange But Wonderful Ending.” PBS News HourApril 21, 2022, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/mark-twains-weird-but-perfect-ending.

NASA History Office – NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/history/history-office/. Access date: 28 February 2024.

The Impact of Popular Culture – Mark Twain House. June 5, 2017, https://marktwainhouse.org/about/mark-twain/pop-culture-influence/, https://marktwainhouse.org/about/mark-twain/pop-culture-influence/.