Comet Hayakutake

Wow! I guess we'll always remember these few years as the Years of the Comets! After counting down the years til Halley's for most of my life, and being heartbroken when it didn't look like the comet I had waited so long to witness, and then getting excited about Kahoutek when that fervor was ignited by the Press, I was sure ready for this!

Scoping the impact sites of Shoemaker-Levy as Jove turned to reveal its wounds through the eyepiece of My Blue Telescope had to have been a highlight of my astronomy story. Then to hear that a couple of desert comet seekers independently, on the same night, discovered an interloper to the inner solar system that was the farthest out comet ever discovered, promising a great show in the spring of 97. And while I shuttled back and forth between comet web pages, checking out the latest Hale-Bopp news, I read that I won't have to wait that long: a Japanese comet sleuth discovered a zinger coming right at us!

To stand outside in the dark skies of my home, look straight up and see Comet Hayakutake trolling the heavens, its magnificent tail spanning a quarter of the sky, was a spectacle that drew me night after night. I can hardly wait for Hale-Bopp.