Biela's comet

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Bie´la's com´et


1.(Astron.) A periodic coment, discovered by Biela in 1826, which revolves around the sun in 6.6 years. The November meteors (Andromedes or Bielids) move in its orbit, and may be fragments of the comet.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, published 1913 by G. & C. Merriam Co.
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References in periodicals archive
Biela's Comet was first observed in 1772 by Jacques Leibax Montaigne.
Exactly such a possibility was discussed in the scientific literature of the 1820s and 1830s for Biela's Comet.
Heinrich Olbers, the astronomer most associated today with "Olbers' paradox," remarked about Biela's Comet in The American Journal of Science: "at some time the comet may pass at a very small distance from us, and even so near, that its atmosphere may be in contact with our globe.
The 1838 edition of Burritt's book includes language identifying Biela's Comet as a perfect candidate for Poe's fictional destroyer:
The comets of Edgar Allan Poe
The consensus was that, like the ill-fated Biela's Comet, P/Tempel-Tuttle had somehow broken apart and had vanished forever, leaving its fragments behind.
The Leonids: king of the meteor showers
Another article tells the story of Biela's Comet, which failed to appear as predicted in 1859 and 1866.
Hayyim Selig Slonimski
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