Comet: What's in a Name?

You likely have heard about Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas, which some people are describing as the comet of the century. This month it has been passing near Earth and is visible just after sunset.

All of this astronomy talk got us remembering a story we told when celebrating the district’s 75th anniversary several years ago. Back in 1950, as plans for a new Rush-Henrietta Central School were being designed, students were asked to choose a mascot to represent the school and district. There were four choices and a clear winner. Our students were to be known as Rush-Henrietta Comets! (Of course, later we amended that, in the 1980s, to become Royal Comets.)

Why was Comets even a choice in 1950? While a comet is different than a meteor, some speculate the name was suggested by adults old enough to remember an awe-inspiring meteor seen throughout the region and that allegedly crashed in Henrietta.

The October 3, 1907, edition of the Democrat and Chronicle, shares a story from S.C. Williams, a Brighton man who visited Henrietta when the brightening sky caught his eye. “The meteor seemed to be high toward the zenith when I first caught sight of it,” he said. “It continued to descend toward the southeast horizon, going very slowly. I expected that it would fall, but it apparently did not before it got beyond the horizon. I saw it for at least 30 seconds. It was in the shape of an oblong bulb, bluish green, with a tail, and very brilliant.” People reported seeing the meteor as far away as Marion, Wayne County.

Perhaps that celestial event wasn’t the reason at all, though. Maybe attention given to the first commercial jetliner, the de Havilland Comet, which took flight in July 1949, influenced the naming.

If you have more information, please let us know. In the meantime, keep looking skyward!

(Photo credit: Borja Suarez/Reuters)