{"id":44434,"date":"2023-04-25T11:37:39","date_gmt":"2023-04-25T11:37:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=118310"},"modified":"2023-04-25T12:32:32","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T12:32:32","slug":"podcast-how-the-1910-appearance-of-halleys-comet-almost-destroyed-civilisation","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/podcast-how-the-1910-appearance-of-halleys-comet-almost-destroyed-civilisation\/","title":{"rendered":"Podcast: How the 1910 appearance of Halley\u2019s Comet (almost) destroyed civilisation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Historian Richard Goodrich explores some of the public hysteria that preceded the 1910 appearance of Halley\u2019s Comet. <\/p>

By Iain Todd\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 25 April 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

In this episode of the Radio Astronomy podcast, we speak to historian Richard Goodrich, whose new book Comet Madness<\/a> explores the effect on the general public of the build-up to the 1910 appearance of Halley\u2019s Comet.<\/p>\n

Egged on by some rather unscrupulous media outlets at the time, many unsuspecting members of the public were led to believe that Halley\u2019s Comet<\/a>\u2018s close pass of Earth could cause mass extinction events, or even the very destruction of Earth as we know it.<\/p>\n