1. Great comet of 1680
Great comet of 1680.
Discovered by German astronomer Gottfried Kirch on November 14, 1680, this magnificent comet became one of the brightest comets of the seventeenth century. She was remembered for being visible even in the daytime, as well as for her spectacular long tail.
2. Mrkos (1957)
Mrkos.
Comet Mrkos was photographed by Alan McClure on August 13, 1957. The photo made a great impression on astronomers, since for the first time a double tail was noticed on a comet: a straight ion tail and a curved dust tail (both tails are directed in the opposite direction from the Sun).
3. De Kock-Paraskevopoulos (1941)
De Cock-Paraskevopoulos.
This strange but beautiful comet is best remembered for its long but faint tail, and for being visible at dawn and dusk. The comet received such a strange name because it was simultaneously discovered by an amateur astronomer named De Kock and the Greek astronomer John S. Paraskevopoulos.
4. Skjellerup - Maristani (1927)
Skjellerup - Maristani.
Comet Skjellerup–Maristany was a long-period comet whose brightness suddenly increased greatly in 1927. It was visible to the naked eye for approximately thirty-two days.
5. Mellish (1917)
Mellish.
Mellish is a periodic comet that has been observed primarily in the southern hemisphere. Many astronomers believe that Mellish will return to Earth's horizon in 2061.
6. Brooks (1911)
Brooks.
This bright comet was discovered in July 1911 by astronomer William Robert Brooks. It was remembered for its unusual blue color, which was the result of radiation from carbon monoxide ions.
7. Daniel (1907)
Daniel.
Comet Daniel was one of the most famous and widely observed comets of the early twentieth century.
8. Lovejoy (2011)
Lovejoy.
Comet Lovejoy is a periodic comet that comes extremely close to the sun at perihelion. It was discovered in November 2011 by Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy.
9. Bennett (1970)
Bennett.
The next comet was discovered by John Caister Bennett on December 28, 1969, when it was two astronomical units from the Sun. It was notable for its radiant tail, composed of plasma compressed into filaments by magnetic and electric fields.
10. Seki Lines (1962)
Seki Lines.
Initially visible only in the southern hemisphere, Seki Lines became one of the brightest objects in the night sky on April 1, 1962.
11. Arend-Roland (1956)
Arend-Roland.
Visible only in the southern hemisphere during the first half of April 1956, Comet Arend-Roland was first discovered on November 8, 1956 by Belgian astronomers Sylvain Arend and Georges Roland in photographic images.
12. Eclipse (1948)
Eclipse.
Eclipse is an exceptionally bright comet that was discovered during a solar eclipse on November 1, 1948.
13. Viscara (1901)
Viscara.
The great comet of 1901, sometimes called Comet Vizcar, became visible to the naked eye on April 12. It was visible as a second magnitude star with a short tail.
14. McNaught (2007)
McNaught.
Comet McNaught, also known as the Great Comet of 2007, is a periodic celestial body discovered on August 7, 2006 by British-Australian astronomer Robert McNaught. It was the brightest comet in forty years and was clearly visible to the naked eye in the southern hemisphere in January and February 2007.
15. Hyakutake (1996)
Hyakutake.
Comet Hyakutake was discovered on January 31, 1996, during its closest passage to Earth. It was named the "Great Comet of 1996" and is remembered for being the closest celestial body to Earth in the last two hundred years.
16. Vesta (1976)
Vesta.
Comet West was arguably the most spectacular and attention-grabbing comet of the last century. She was visible to the naked eye, and her two huge tails stretched across the sky.
17. Ikeya-Seki (1965)
Ikeya-Seki.
Also known as the "Great Comet of the Twentieth Century", Ikeya-Seki was the brightest comet of the last century and appeared even brighter than the Sun in daylight. According to Japanese observers, it was about ten times brighter than the full moon.
18. Halley's Comet (1910)
Halley's Comet.
Despite the appearance of much brighter long-period comets, Halley is the brightest short-period (it returns to the Sun every 76 years) comet that is clearly visible to the naked eye.
19. Great Southern Comet (1947)
Great Southern Comet.
In December 1947, a huge comet was spotted near the setting sun, the brightest in decades (since Halley's Comet in 1910).
20. Great January comet (1910)
Big January comet.
This comet was visible during January 17, 1910, as a snow-white object with a long and wide tail.
21. Great comet of 1577
Great comet of 1577.
One of the first comets that was visible to the naked eye in modern history was the Great Comet, which passed close to Earth in 1577. It was noticed by many people throughout Europe, including the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe.
22. Great Comet of 1744
Great comet of 1744.
The Great Comet of 1744, also known as Comet de Chézeau, shone brighter than Sirius in 1744 and developed a long, curved tail. It became the sixth brightest comet in history.
23. Hale-Bopp (1997)
Hale-Bopp.
Comet Hale-Bopp was perhaps the most widely observed comet of the twentieth century, as well as one of the brightest in modern history. It was visible to the naked eye for a record year and a half, twice as long as the previous record holder, the Great Comet of 1811.
24. Great September comet (1882)
Great September comet.
It was a comet that became so bright in September 1882 that it could be seen close to the sun at perihelion.
25. Kohouteka (1973)
Kohoutek.
And the last comet on the list was first discovered on March 7, 1973 by Czech astronomer Lubos Kohoutek. It reached its perihelion on December 28, 1973, and its previous appearance is believed by astronomers to have been about 150,000 years ago. Comet Kohoutek will next return in about 75,000 years.
Comets are one of the most mysterious celestial bodies that appear in the sky every now and then. Today, scientists believe that comets are a byproduct left over from the formation of stars and planets billions of years ago. They consist of a core of various types of ice (frozen water, carbon dioxide, ammonia and methane mixed with dust) and a large cloud of gas and dust surrounding the core, often called a "coma". Today, more than 5260 are known. Our review contains the brightest and most impressive.
1The Great Comet Of 1680
Discovered by German astronomer Gottfried Kirch on November 14, 1680, this magnificent comet became one of the brightest comets of the seventeenth century. She was remembered for being visible even in the daytime, as well as for her spectacular long tail.
2. Mrkos (1957)
Comet Mrkos was photographed by Alan McClure on August 13, 1957. The photo made a great impression on astronomers, since for the first time a double tail was noticed on a comet: a straight ion tail and a curved dust tail (both tails are directed in the opposite direction from the Sun).
3. De Kock-Paraskevopoulos (1941)
This strange but beautiful comet is best remembered for its long but faint tail, and for being visible at dawn and dusk. The comet received such a strange name because it was simultaneously discovered by an amateur astronomer named De Kock and the Greek astronomer John S. Paraskevopoulos.
4. Skjellerup - Maristani (1927)
Comet Skjellerup-Maristany was a long-period comet whose brightness suddenly increased greatly in 1927. It was visible to the naked eye for approximately thirty-two days.
5. Mellish (1917)
Mellish is a periodic comet that has been observed primarily in the southern hemisphere. Many astronomers believe that Mellish will return to Earth's horizon in 2061.
6. Brooks (1911)
This bright comet was discovered in July 1911 by astronomer William Robert Brooks. It was remembered for its unusual blue color, which was the result of radiation from carbon monoxide ions.
7. Daniel (1907)
Comet Daniel was one of the most famous and widely observed comets of the early twentieth century.
8. Lovejoy (2011)
Comet Lovejoy is a periodic comet that comes extremely close to the sun at perihelion. It was discovered in November 2011 by Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy.
9. Bennett (1970)
The next comet was discovered by John Caister Bennett on December 28, 1969, when it was two astronomical units from the Sun. It was notable for its radiant tail, composed of plasma compressed into filaments by magnetic and electric fields.
10 Seki Lines (1962)
Initially visible only in the southern hemisphere, Seki Lines became one of the brightest objects in the night sky on April 1, 1962.
11. Arend-Roland (1956)
Visible only in the southern hemisphere during the first half of April 1956, Comet Arend-Roland was first discovered on November 8, 1956 by Belgian astronomers Sylvain Arend and Georges Roland in photographic images.
12. Eclipse (1948)
Eclipse is an exceptionally bright comet that was discovered during a solar eclipse on November 1, 1948.
13. Viscara (1901)
The great comet of 1901, sometimes called Comet Vizcar, became visible to the naked eye on April 12. It was visible as a second magnitude star with a short tail.
14. McNaught (2007)
Comet McNaught, also known as the Great Comet of 2007, is a periodic celestial body discovered on August 7, 2006 by British-Australian astronomer Robert McNaught. It was the brightest comet in forty years and was clearly visible to the naked eye in the southern hemisphere in January and February 2007.
15. Hyakutake (1996)
Comet Hyakutake was discovered on January 31, 1996, during its closest passage to Earth. It was named the "Great Comet of 1996" and is remembered for being the closest celestial body to Earth in the last two hundred years.
16. Vesta (1976)
Comet West was arguably the most spectacular and attention-grabbing comet of the last century. She was visible to the naked eye, and her two huge tails stretched across the sky.
17. Ikeya-Seki (1965)
Also known as the "Great Comet of the Twentieth Century", Ikeya-Seki was the brightest comet of the last century and appeared even brighter than the Sun in daylight. According to Japanese observers, it was about ten times brighter than the full moon.
18. Halley's Comet (1910)
Despite the appearance of much brighter long-period comets, Halley is the brightest short-period (it returns to the Sun every 76 years) comet that is clearly visible to the naked eye.
19. Great Southern Comet (1947)
In December 1947, a huge comet was spotted near the setting sun, the brightest in decades (since Halley's Comet in 1910).
20. Great January Comet (1910)
This comet was visible during January 17, 1910, as a snow-white object with a long and wide tail.
21. Great comet of 1577
Comet Hale-Bopp was perhaps the most widely observed comet of the twentieth century, as well as one of the brightest in modern history. It was visible to the naked eye for a record year and a half, twice as long as the previous record holder, the Great Comet of 1811.
24. Great September Comet (1882)
It was a comet that became so bright in September 1882 that it could be seen close to the sun at perihelion.
25. Kohoutek (1973)
And the last comet on the list was first discovered on March 7, 1973 by Czech astronomer Lubos Kohoutek. It reached its perihelion on December 28, 1973, and its previous appearance is believed by astronomers to have been about 150,000 years ago. Comet Kohoutek will next return in about 75,000 years.
Especially for those who are interested in astronomy and science.
The second largest body in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
In general, it is more correct to call it - "minor planet Vesta". It is the largest of the minor planets in this asteroid belt.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA image from AMS Dawn on July 24, 2011.
The picture was taken from a distance of about 5200 km.
It is clearly visible that Vesta did not have enough of its own gravity to take the shape of a ball.
Curious for comparison: Saturn's moon Mimas It is smaller in size, but it was able to acquire a spherical shape.
Characteristics of Vesta's orbit:
Eccentricity (e) - 0.089
Semi-major axis (a) - 353.201 million km. (2.361 a.u.)
Perihelion (q) - 321.766 million km. (2.151 a.u.)
Aphelion (Q) - 384.635 million km. (2.571 a.u.)
Orbital period (P) - 1325.081 days (3.628 Earth years)
Average orbital speed - 19.346 km / s
Inclination (i) - 7.135°
Ascending node longitude - 103.915°
Perihelion argument - 149.855°
Average anomaly (M) - 144.864°
The minimum distance to Earth is 177 million km. (in general, this is not so much; for comparison, the minimum distance to Mars is 55.75 million km.)
Physical characteristics of Vesta: 
Dimensions - 578 x 560 x 458 km.
Weight (m) - 2.75 x 10 20 kg.
Average density - 3.5 g/cm 3
Gravity acceleration on the surface - 0.22 m/s 2 (0.0224 g)
Albedo - 0.4228
The rotation period is 5.342 hours.
Spectral class - V
Absolute magnitude - 3.2 m
It became the most massive asteroid in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars after Ceres was reclassified as a dwarf planet. But the planet Vesta is smaller in size than Pallas, another small planet.
A fairly bright asteroid, the only one that can be seen with the naked eye. Several other asteroids are also theoretically visible without a telescope, but already at the limit of our eyes, this requires good vision and a truly black sky, without flare.
Using the Hubble telescope, an idea of the surface of Vesta and its composition was obtained.
In 2011, the Dawn spacecraft approached Vesta and took more accurate images.
The entire south pole and surrounding areas are occupied by the huge crater Reyasilvia, with a diameter of about 460 km. It is named after the Vestal Virgin Rhea Silvia, the mother of the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. The name is written in exactly one word, so it was decided not to use double names.
An image of the southern hemisphere of Vesta from the Rassvet spacecraft.
The picture was taken on July 17, 2011 from a distance of 15,000 km.
The central hill of the Rheasilvia crater is visible in the center.
But the walls of the crater are not visible, because the Rheasilvia crater is so large that it is almost equal to the diameter of Vesta itself.
The bottom of the crater is located at 13 km. below the average surface level of Vesta, and the edges are 4-12 km higher.
The central hill of the crater is 18 km. height.
It is assumed that many asteroids of the same class V are fragments of Vesta.
Southern Hemisphere elevation map of the asteroid Vesta. The highest places are shown in red.
The large red circle is the walls of the Rheasilvia crater.
The red spot in the middle of the circle is the central hill of this crater.
The photo was taken from the same point as the top image, but shifted slightly clockwise.
If you look closely, you will notice that the shape of Reyasilvia is not a circle - in the picture it is broken at the bottom, and then there is another semicircle. This is an even more ancient crater - Veneneya, with a diameter of about 400 km.
Veneneia was formed 2-3 billion years ago by the collision of Vesta with a dark, carbon-rich asteroid.
And, one billion years ago, Vesta collided with another asteroid of lighter material, resulting in the formation of the Rheasilvia crater.
The blows were truly monstrous and it is unclear how poor Vesta even remained unharmed.
If you paid attention to the size of Vesta in three coordinates, you probably noticed that two sizes are 500 km each, and in the third - about 400. From this we could conclude that Vesta is strongly flattened.
Look at the animation of its rotation, which was compiled from successive images: Vesta is indeed flattened from the poles. These are the consequences of a collision with asteroids that formed the craters of Rheasilvia and Veneneia.
In addition, look more closely: along the equator, you can see longitudinal grooves as it rotates. It is believed that these are grabens - geological folds, or rather rock faults, that were formed from collisions with these asteroids.
However, Vesta suffered more than once, as evidenced by other craters tens of kilometers in size.
This chain of three craters on Vesta was named "Snowman". Located in the Northern Hemisphere.
Their names from West to East, that is, from left to right in the photograph: Marcia, Calpurnia and Minucia.
Marcia, whose diameter is about 50-60 km, is the youngest of these craters, since it overlaps Calpurnia.
Minucius is the oldest, as can be seen from the smoothed walls and integrity of the walls of Calpurnia on his side.
The core of the asteroid Vesta is iron-nickel. Stone mantle. After the initial heating and melting of rocks from nuclear reactions, a period of cooling and crystallization began, which led to the diversity of rocks on Vesta. This can be seen from the spectral analysis of class V meteorites that reach the Earth.
Until now, Vesta has only been studied through telescopes. But, in August 2011, the American spacecraft Dawn (NASA), launched in 2007, had already entered Vesta orbit and transmitted its first high-quality images. In April 2012, he left Vesta and headed for Ceres.
March 6, 2015 the device entered the orbit of Ceres.
More on this topic:
Dwarf planet Ceres .
Minor planet 433- planet Eros.
Asteroid Vesta is a celestial wanderer that has survived more than one large-scale disaster, leaving us with many interesting space artifacts.
Vesta has become number 4 in order of discovery in the main asteroid belt. It was noticed by the German astronomer Heinrich Olbers in 1807. It owes its name to the greatest mathematician Carl Gauss; it was he who proposed naming the found asteroid after the patroness of family and hearth from Ancient Rome.
Location and characteristics
Vesta is located in a wide asteroid belt located between Jupiter and Mars. It is filled with cosmic bodies of various sizes and a significant number of small planets.
Asteroid Vesta is the second largest among its neighbors (530 km), it is second to Pallas at only 2 km in diameter. But in terms of mass, it overtook everyone - 2.59x10 in 20 kg - this figure became the largest among similar objects, after Ceres was classified as a dwarf planet. The temperature on the asteroid varies with the seasons: in winter this figure is about -190 degrees, and in summer - 3 degrees below 0. The eastern region is highly reflective, and in the western part there are darker areas of basalt rocks.
Surface and subsurface
Topographic map of the asteroid Vesta, showing the relief of the northern and southern hemispheres. Compiled from photographs acquired between July 17, 2011 and August 26, 2012 by NASA's DAWN spacecraft.
At the beginning of its formation, Vesta had an iron core and a rocky mantle, which were partially melted by internal heat. Over time, cooling occurred and a large amount of minerals appeared. This fact is confirmed by meteorites found on Earth that left the asteroid after powerful impacts. The surface of Vesta was subjected to several large-scale attacks, leaving behind craters hundreds of kilometers long. The study of their consequences is carried out with the help of the Hubble telescope and the Dawn apparatus.
The largest crater is located in the southern part, its size is 460 km, and the rock formation along the perimeter rises 18 km. This rock was pushed out by an impact of colossal force, its height is twice that of Everest.
The huge crater, like all the others on the asteroid, is named after the famous Roman matron, it bears the name Rhea Sylvia. Many other, smaller craters have also been found here. Another structure on the surface that is indicative of catastrophic collisions is a system of troughs at the equator. The longest is called Divaliya, it has a length of 465 km and a depth of up to 5 km.
3D map of Vesta
Remnants of the disaster
The shape of the asteroid is close to spherical, as its uniformity was disturbed by a powerful collision with another celestial body more than 2 billion years ago. Fragments of Vesta left its surface and formed a family of class V asteroids. Their dimensions are significantly inferior to the size of the main object and do not exceed 10 km in diameter. Scientists have counted the number of these cosmic bodies, in 2005 it was 6051. Part of the meteorites circles in the space of the Universe, and those that hit the Earth brought important information about their progenitor Vesta.
Digital model of the Vesta asteroid
This is interesting
High reflective data made the asteroid one of the brightest celestial bodies. Vesta is visible to us without optical zoom. The asteroid is the same age as the Solar System, and in geological composition it is close to the terrestrial planets. Studies by the Dawn space probe, which took place in 2011-2012, provided many images of the surface and made it possible to create a detailed map of it. Only after the device approached the asteroid were scientists able to calculate its exact mass.
Yet some of humanity's greatest, most complex achievements have been replicated. People landed on the moon 
, and then they repeated it eleven more times. Even some of nature's craziest quirks have been witnessed more than once. Did you know that the Mississippi flowed in the opposite direction three times?
But sometimes truly unique events happen, incredible things that no one else has ever seen in history. Here are ten of them.
Comet West
Spotted in March 1976, Comet West, named after the astronomer Richard West who first observed it, had a remarkable appearance and reached magnitude 3. It was brighter than Jupiter ever seen from Earth. Despite its impressive size, it ranks on this list not because of its brightness, but because of its orbital period.
Some comets are very rare, being seen once in a human lifetime, for example, the famous Halley's Comet orbits the Sun once every seventy-six years, but Comet West is believed to appear in orbit around the Sun only once every 250,000 years. Although scientists are not completely sure of this figure. Loss of mass or interactions with other solar bodies can change the comet's orbit. Of course, 249,000 years is still a lot.
Unfortunately, the comet media 
West was not very actively reported. There had been much hype about Kohoutek's Comet before, but it turned into disappointment, leading to a lack of interest in Comet West. Some of humanity missed her visit in 1976, and they are certainly unlikely to see her next appearance.
Carrington event
The Carrington Event was a geomagnetic storm caused by a powerful solar flare at 11:23 pm on September 1, 1859. It was discovered by Richard Carrington, after which it reached the Earth's magnetosphere the next morning, lighting up the pre-dawn sky with such a bright glow that it was seen even in Jamaica. The light was so bright that you could read with it.
More alarmingly, telegraph wires around the world were sparking and burning out. Even when disconnected from their power sources, they were able to transmit messages due to the electrical currents caused by this event. Until this day, no one knew that solar flares existed.
Currently there are solar flares 
are observed regularly, but the Carrington event was unique because of a combination of two factors: it reached Earth and was very powerful, making it the largest solar flare to hit Earth in at least the past five hundred years. If such an event were to occur today, experts estimate it would result in damages of $1-2 trillion.
Eradication of human disease
When the goal of eradicating smallpox was set in 1967, there were an estimated ten to fifteen million cases of the disease per year, resulting in two million deaths and millions of deformities, as well as hundreds of thousands of blind people. More than ten years have passed since then, and the last case of smallpox was recorded in 1978. The disease was declared officially eradicated in 1979 and is now the only human disease to be completely eradicated.
Before that, it posed a danger for three thousand years and was eliminated only by the coordinated efforts of countries around the world. Overall, the complete destruction of one of humanity's oldest and fiercest enemies cost approximately $100 million. It was a good use of money.
Smallpox was the first disease to be combated on a global scale, but it was not the last. Other diseases are eliminated in similar ways. Dracunculiasis, measles and taeniasis, among many others, are also close to complete destruction. It’s safe to say that many would like to live to see this time as soon as possible.
Flight to two ice giants of the solar system
The only man-made object ever sent to Uranus or Neptune was the Voyager 2 spacecraft. During its flight around Uranus, Voyager passed within 81,400 km of it. Within just 5.5 hours allotted for studying the giant, the device discovered that the atmosphere of Uranus consists of 85% hydrogen and 15% helium, 800 km below the clouds of the planet there is a boiling ocean, the planet’s magnetic field is surprisingly flat at the equator , and it itself has ten more satellites than was previously known.
The flight over Neptune also brought many surprises, such as the existence of the Great Dark Spot and active geysers on Neptune's moon, Triton. The results of these unique flights make up most of what humanity knows about these planets.
It would be fair to note that the “sibling” Voyager 2 is also not idle. Voyager 1 is the first and only man-made object to reach interstellar space, that is, the place where the Sun's magnetic field ceases to affect material objects. In other words, he is now in space, between the stars.
Capture of warships by cavalry
The winter of 1795 was so cold that the Dutch fleet, anchored near the island of Texel, was frozen into ice. This happened during the French Revolutionary War. The incident allowed the French, under the command of Louis Laur, to attack the warships on horseback. As a result, fourteen ships were captured.
There are still disputes over whether the battle actually took place. The Dutch report states that it was more of a discussion than a battle over the execution of French orders, the failure to raise sail, and the maintenance of military discipline. One Dutch surgeon, who was on board a captured ship, reported quite calmly: “On Saturday morning, my servant reported to me that a French hussar was standing near our ship. I looked out the window, and indeed, there was a hussar standing there.
Laur later reported on this attack: “When they saw us from the ships, they prepared for defense. I sent a few sharp marksmen ahead, and followed the rest of my troops. The fleet was captured. The sailors accepted us on board [willingly]... This is the true story of the capture of the Dutch fleet under the command of a 23-year-old battalion commander.”
French artists depicted this incident as a glorious battle, and this is how this event is often remembered. Battle or not, the fleet was captured by the French, and this was the only recorded capture of ships by cavalry.
