Comet Arend-Roland

astronomy

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Article History

Comet Arend-Roland, long-period comet remarkable for its anomalous second tail, which projected toward rather than away from the Sun. It was one of the brightest naked-eye comets of the 20th century. It was discovered photographically on the night of November 8–9, 1956, by Sylvain Arend and Georges Roland at the Royal Observatory, Uccle, Belgium. Its perihelion passage (i.e., its closest approach to the Sun) occurred on April 8, 1957, at a distance of only 0.316 astronomical units (AU; 47 million km, or 29 million miles) from the Sun, inside the orbit of Mercury. Because it was discovered months before perihelion, lengthy observations could be carried out. The anomalous tail, called an anti-tail, appeared for a few nights late in April, changing direction from night to night and appearing as a sharp spike aimed at the Sun. This was an effect of perspective, of viewing edgewise a fan of debris that was actually scattered behind the comet along its orbit.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Erik Gregersen.