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The Story of a Comet Hunter's Life

My 50 years with Comets

Part 39: Strange stories of Comet Ikeya-Seki 3

    Forty-one years after the discovery of Comet Ikeya-Seki, there is one thing that I still occasionally reminisce about. It is about the music written by a Cuban composer Jose Caleyo living in Havana, when Comet Ikeya-Seki began to show its long tail in morning twilight after its perihelion passing on October 25, 1965. It is Jazz-style piano music and I wanted to play it someday. However, forty years have already passed and I haven't fulfilled my wish. There are two sheets of the hand-written music and I have its cover and first sheet, but the second sheet is missing, though I have been searching for it. I was very interested to know how this Cuban Jazz musician perceived the appearance of Comet Ikeya-Seki and how he conceived the music. All I could do was to follow the notes in the score with my eyes feeling futile and it hasn't been played even once. One month after the discovery, on October 21, 1965, the comet moved to the south while brightening enormously after perihelion, and made an extraordinary display in the Southern Hemisphere. The NHK (Japan's national broadcaster) TV showed that in Katmandu an event was held to ward off evil and misfortune in the presence of the king. They must have seen an awesome and frightening appearance of the comet. I wonder if the composer Jose Caleyo has ever performed it. It is possible that the music has been lying idle somewhere until now waiting for the chance to be heard.
    Mr. Oniwa and other two individuals tried to play this music for the first time in Japan (it could be the first in the world?). The music playable was only the 2-minute-long first half. Contrary to a calm and peaceful image of the heavens, it is very lively and spirited. Unlike some music which induces people to meditate looking at the starry sky, it rather gives an impression that at the sudden appearance of a great comet people were startled and frightened. Its energetic melody can be interpreted as an image of the comet flying freely in the night sky. The Music "Comet Ikeya-Seki" was recorded on a CD later and I play it to the audience at my public talks. So far, it was performed at Kochi and Oshu.


The music of "Ikeya-Seki"

    This comet of the Kreutz family approached the sun to a distance of 0.007 AU on October 21, 1965. It was 360,000 km from the surface of the sun. Impacted by the extreme temperature of the sun and its gravity, the comet's tail was curved as if wrapping around the sun. The corona's one-million-degree gas tried to destroy and evaporate the comet instantly. Nobody in the world doubted the ice-formed comet would be vaporized explosively. However, the comet resisted the corona's attempt to destroy it and dispersed the heat by evaporating furiously. In spite of this ordeal, the comet reappeared from the other side of the sun not as a miserably scorched comet, but as a magnificent and majestic comet. Many comets make suicidal dives into the corona. It is an eternal mystery how Comet Ikeya-Seki survived.
    On the day of the reappearance of Ikeya-Seki, it was reported in Hawaii that the comet had been disintegrated. In Germany, a contrary report was released that the survival of the comet had been confirmed after its perihelion passage. Around the same time, the Norikura Solar Observatory in Gifu had made frequent photographic observations from the time of the sudden appearance of the comet in the corner of the coronagraph until it entered the corona, then then disappearing behind the sun.


Comet Ikeya-Seki diving into the corona on October 21, 1965
Photo courtesy the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

    The photo above is one of the last taken at 1:15 pm, immediately before the perihelion passage.
Mr. Ike invented the "Ike Projection Box" getting an idea from this coronagraph, but didn't produce an expected result, probably because the observation was made past the optimal time as well as the difference in elevation between the coastal plain and tall mountain.
    One day I had a chance to have a chat with Mr. Koichi Ike, a long time after that "incident", and we enjoyed reminiscing about those good old days. Whenever we met, we would talk about the "Ike Projection Box" and the heroic stories of him persisting in the coffin-like box for as long as three hours. I learned then that the box was a wooden crate to be used to transport a refrigerator for his business.
    A more important thing is Mr. Ike actually saw Comet Ikeya-Seki. At 6:30 am, 7 hours before the comet's perihelion passage, he walked up to Bandano-mori mountain in Susaki city with his 12.5cm comet seeker and saw Ikeya-Seki at the sunrise. According to him, it trailed a short tail twice the diameter of the sun and the nucleus was shining brightly in yellowish color. He kept the finding to himself thinking that observing with the projection box at my home should be the "main event".
    Comet Ikeya-Seki had left and Mr. Ike himself had left his hometown for a far-away place.
    Sometimes Comet Ikeya-Seki is wrongly called "Comet Sekiya-Ike". It happened in an NHK program and at a bank. At the bank I was mistakenly called "Mr. Ike", while waiting. This will tell you how active Mr. Ike was during the appearance of Comet Ikeya-Sek and how often he was in the news.
    The discovery of one comet made it possible for me to get to know people around the world and form many friendships. I hope that one day a great comet appears and gives the world bright happy message.



Copyright (C) 2019 Tsutomu Seki.