Caesar's Comet

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Caesar's Comet (also Sidus Iulium ("Julian Star"); Caesaris astrum ("Star of Caesar"); Comet Caesar; the Great Comet of 44 BC; numerical designation C/−43 K1) was a seven-day cometary outburst seen in July 44 BC. It was interpreted by Julius Caesar's contemporaries in Ancient Rome as a sign of the deification of the recently assassinated dictator (100–44 BC). Based on two questionable reports, one from China (May 30) and another from Rome (July 23), an infinite number of orbit determinations can fit the observations, but a retrograde orbit is inferred based on available notes. The comet approached Earth both inbound in mid-May and outbound in early August. It came to perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on May 25, −43 at a solar distance of about 0.22 AU (33 million km). At perihelion the comet had a solar elongation of 11 degrees and is hypothesized to have had an apparent magnitude of around −3 as the Chinese report is not consistent with daytime visibility during May. Between June...

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