{"id":14146,"date":"2026-01-24T14:44:55","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T21:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/?p=14146"},"modified":"2026-04-27T14:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T21:48:14","slug":"aethelmaers-comet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/2026\/01\/24\/aethelmaers-comet\/","title":{"rendered":"Aethelmaer&#8217;s Comet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.popsci.com\/science\/halleys-comet-new-name\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">from Popular Science<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Halley\u2019s comet may need a new, medieval name<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>Astronomers suggest the honor should go to an 11th century monk known for a disastrous flying attempt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.popsci.com\/authors\/andrew-paul\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ANDREW PAUL<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.popsci.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Bayeux-Tapestry-Halleys-Comet.jpg?quality=85&amp;w=2000\" alt=\"Scene from Bayeux tapestry showing Halley's comet\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>The 1066 CE appearance of Halley&#8217;s comet is famously depicted in the Bayeux tapestry.\u00a0<strong>Credit:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.universiteitleiden.nl\/en\/news\/2026\/01\/halleys-comet-wrongly-named-11th-century-english-monk-predates-british-astronomer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Leiden University<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>One of most recognizable&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.popsci.com\/science\/comet-mystery-webb\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">comets<\/a>&nbsp;in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.popsci.com\/category\/space\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">astronomy<\/a>&nbsp;may require rebranding. But even if everyone continues to call the famed space rock&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.popsci.com\/science\/halleys-comet-coming-back\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Halley\u2019s comet<\/a>, some researchers say an eccentric 11th century monk deserves at least&nbsp;<em>some<\/em>&nbsp;credit. According to a review of historical materials including the famous Bayeux tapestry, a team from Leiden University in the Netherlands believes it makes more sense to name the icy space rock in honor of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/angloscandinavianchronicle.com\/2023\/01\/21\/look-up-in-the-air\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Aethelmaer of Malmesbury<\/a>\u2014a member of the Order of Saint Benedict who also lived with an ill-fated fascination with flying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every 76 years, a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.popsci.com\/science\/halleys-comet-eta-aquarids-photos\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">comet<\/a>&nbsp;from the depths of our solar system reaches its nearest point to Earth. Its orbit is anything but new, however. Chinese observers recorded the appearance of a bright light traveling from east to north in the night sky as far back as 240 BCE, while Roman historian Cassius Dio described a similar sounding event in 12 BCE. It wasn\u2019t until 1705 that the English astronomer Edmond Halley concluded that these regularly returning sights weren\u2019t different objects, but a single comet traveling along a predictable trajectory. Today, his discovery is reflected in both the comet\u2019s everyday name as well as its official classification, 1P\/Halley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.popsci.com\/science\/halleys-comet-new-name\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">click to continue reading at Popular Science<\/a> ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>from Popular Science Halley\u2019s comet may need a new, medieval name Astronomers suggest the honor should go to an 11th century monk known for a disastrous flying attempt. by ANDREW PAUL One of most recognizable&nbsp;comets&nbsp;in&nbsp;astronomy&nbsp;may require rebranding. But even if everyone continues to call the famed space rock&nbsp;Halley\u2019s comet, some researchers say an eccentric 11th [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weirdness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14146"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14147,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14146\/revisions\/14147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}