”COMET” (2014)

For Solo Piano
Circa 7 min.

Composed by Sam Perkin
Commissioned by Gary Beecher

Through the art, records and stories from many ancient peoples, astronomers have determined that one comet in particular has been observed across many different eras of human civilization.

Astronomer Edmond Halley incredibly deduced that a comet he saw in 1682 was orbiting the Sun like a planet and that the same comet had probably been seen many times before. By examining previous sightings of what he thought to be the same object, Halley calculated that its orbit was 76 years and predicted that the same comet would return to the inner solar system again in 1758. Although Halley did not live to see the return of the comet, his prediction was correct. It was a triumph of Isaac Newton's theories of gravity and motion.

This work in particular is inspired by Comet Lovejoy, a “Sungrazer”, meaning that this celestial object comes within a hairʼs-breadth of the Sunʼs scorching surface. Among the most extraordinary of all comets, the family of “Sungrazers” is thought to be the remnants of a gigantic comet that broke apart millennia ago and was probably the one Aristotle wrote about in 371 BC that “had a tail that spanned a third of the heavens”. Comet Lovejoy will be back in about 600 years.

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