101321 | GERMANY. Halley's Comet cast bronze Medal.

101321  |  GERMANY. Halley's Comet cast bronze Medal. Issued 1920. Commemorating the famous periodic comet (44mm, 39.19 g, 12h). By K. Goetz in München.

 

JEDE WOLKE–SO SCHWARZ SIE DROHT–DEM HIMMEL ZUGEWANDT= / DOCH IHRE LICHTE SONNENSEITE HAT (each cloud as black as it may threaten, has its light side which is turned towards the sun) / KOMET HALLEY, facing personification of the sun, with smaller sun faces surrounding; below, the comet traveling toward the sun / The constellations Orion and Canis Major pursuing that of Lepus to right; above, the constellations Serpens and Cetus, through which the comet passes; the twelve signs of the zodiac around. Edge: K•GoeTz.

 

Kienast 71. Mint State. Light brown-bronze surfaces, with some alluring highlights. A fairly scarce and interesting non-satirical type, especially difficult as a cast.

 

Known to ancient astronomers since at least 240 B.C.E., the comet that would come to be known as Halley's was first accurately predicted in 1705 by Edmond Halley, after whom it would be named. Considered a short-period comet as it reappears to us every 75–76 years, it is the only such comet of that kind that is viewable to the naked eye. Further, this relatively short periodicity means that it is the only comet viewable to the naked eye that could reasonably be observed twice in one's lifetime. The comet has a special connection with American author Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), who joked that "...I came in with Halley's Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year [1910], and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don't go out with Halley's Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: 'Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.'" Indeed, he was born two weeks after the comet's perihelion in 1835, and died the day after the comet's next perihelion in 1910. The comet's most recent visit allowed for a great deal of scientific research to be conducted, such as its size (15x8km) as well as its composition, which is a mix of some ice and largely other dusty, non-volatile materials. Its next path near Earth will occur in mid-2061 to 2062.

 

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