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Mark Twain predicted his own death with a comet

Mark Twain predicted he'd die when Halley's Comet came back. He was right.

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The real story

Twain was born in 1835, just after the comet passed. He said he came in with it and expected to go out with it. He died in April 1910, a day after the comet's closest approach to the Sun.

Edmond Halley was the first to realise the comets seen in 1531, 1607 and 1682 were the same object, and predicted it would return in 1758. He didn't live to see it, but it came back on schedule. Its nucleus is a lumpy, dark lump of ice and dust about 15 km long. In late 2023 it reached the farthest point of its orbit and turned around. Next visit: 2061.

What the narrator says

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The facts we checked

  • Halley's Comet returns about every 76 years; last seen in 1986, next in 2061
  • A comet's tail always points away from the Sun
  • Mark Twain was born in 1835, when the comet appeared, and said he'd 'go out with it'; he died in 1910, the day after its closest approach to the Sun
  • The 1986 pass was one of the poorest views in history
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