Comet

A comet is a small body in the solar system that orbits the sun and (at least occasionally)

Great comets

While hundreds of tiny comets pass through the inner solar system every year, only a very few comets make any impact on the general public. About every decade or so, a comet will become bright enough to be noticed by a casual observer — such comets are often designated Great Comets. In times past, bright comets often inspired panic and hysteria in the general population, being thought of as bad omens. More recently, during the passage of Halley's Comet in 1910, the Earth passed through the comet's tail, and erroneous newspaper reports inspired a fear that cyanogen in the tail might poison millions, while the appearance of Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997 triggered the mass suicide of the Heaven's Gate cult. To most people, however, a great comet is simply a beautiful spectacle.

Related Topics:
Great Comet - 1910 - Cyanogen - Comet Hale-Bopp - 1997 - Heaven's Gate

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Predicting whether a comet will become a great comet is notoriously difficult, as many factors may cause a comet's brightness to depart drastically from predictions. Broadly speaking, if a comet has a large and active nucleus, will pass close to the Sun, and is not obscured by the Sun as seen from the Earth when at its brightest, it will have a chance of becoming a great comet. However, Comet Kohoutek in 1973 fulfilled all the criteria and was expected to become spectacular, but failed to do so. Comet West, which appeared three years later, had much lower expectations (perhaps because scientists were much warier of glowing predictions after the Kohoutek fiasco), but became an extremely impressive comet.{{hnote|Kronk, 'C/1975 V1 (West)'}}

Related Topics:
Comet Kohoutek - 1973 - Comet West

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The late 20th century saw a lengthy gap without the appearance of any great comets, followed by the arrival of two in quick succession — Comet Hyakutake in 1996, followed by Hale-Bopp, which reached maximum brightness in 1997 having been discovered two years earlier. As yet, the 21st century has not seen the arrival of any great comets.

Related Topics:
Comet Hyakutake - 1996 - 1997

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