Halley was not the first to unravel the mysteries of the famous comet. An 11th century monk had already done this

The 11th-century English monk Eilmer first saw the famous “Halley’s comet” as a child and later as an adult.

O Halley’s comet It is the first comet that astronomers recognized as periodic, or recurring. It has a highly elliptical orbit around the sun. This elongated orbit causes it to pass by Earth every 72 to 80 years, leaving behind a bright trail of dust.

The comet is named after the British astronomer Edmond Halleywho became famous for describing, for the first time, its movements through space, in 1705. But, after all, he was not the first to discover its periodic orbit near the Earth.

The conclusion is from an investigation by Leiden University (Netherlands) last week.

However, the new conclusions are that Halley was not the first to discover the roughly 75-year cycle of the comet that gives him his name.

The English monk Eilmer (also known as Aethelmaer), from Malmesbury, may have done two observations of the comet more than 600 years earlier.

The story of (and written by) Eilmer

Eilmer is known to have been the first Briton to try aviation (allegedly).

In addition to his fascination with flight, Eilmer had a great interest in astrology and astronomy. In 989, as a boy, he saw a comet tear through the skies of his home in England, wrote William of Malmesbury.

Decades later, in 1066, he saw the comet again — and linked the two events, argues Simon Portegies Zwart, astronomer at Leiden University, in the Netherlands, cited by .

In 1066, Eilmer exclaimed: “You came, didn’t you?… It’s been a long time since I saw you; but, seeing you now, you are much more terriblebecause I see you brandishing the ruin of my homeland.” As the same magazine recalls, at the time, England was going through a succession crisis after the death of King Edward the Confessor, who did not leave a clear heir to the throne.

Mysterious Halley

O oldest probable record of Halley’s Comet appears in a Chinese chronicle of 239 a.C..

Since then, it has been recorded dozens of times by astronomers around the world, often interpreted as some kind of omen. The Roman-Jewish historian Flavius ​​Josephus, for example, believed that the observation of the comet in AD 66 foreshadowed the fall of Jerusalem.

The comet’s passage was embroidered on the Bayeux Tapestry, which recorded William the Conqueror’s invasion of England in 1066, after being seen flying over Britain and the British Isles in April of that year.

As Live Science recalls, Edmond Halley linked the comet’s appearances in 1531, 1607 and 1682. He then predicted its return in 1758. Halley died in 1742 before being able to see his prediction come true, but it was confirmed posthumously when the comet did, in fact, return as expected.

The new study argues that Eilmer should also be given credit for linking the comet’s appearances centuries earlier. It will be possible to see Halley’s — or Eilmer’s — comet again on its next pass, at the end of July 2061.