Word: comets
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...fiery visitor is called Kohoutek (after its discoverer, Czech Astronomer Luboš Kohoutek- pronounced Loo-bosh Ko-hoe-tek); it promises to rival and perhaps surpass in brightness Halley's comet, which last appeared in 1910 and will not be seen again until 1986. By the time Kohoutek emerges from its passage behind the sun early in January, its tail should be full grown, a glittering streamer extending across as much as a sixth of the evening sky. There is some chance that Kohoutek will not live up to all its billing - comets are notoriously unpredictable. Some split into...
That prophecy, written by the Roman philosopher and statesman nearly 2,000 years ago, may soon be fulfilled. Growing brighter every morning in the predawn sky, one of the largest comets ever seen by man, its elongating tail stretching across millions of miles of space, is streaking toward a Christmas rendezvous with the sun. Later this month and through most of January, the giant comet should provide an extraordinary celestial spectacle, and may well help answer the questions that Seneca raised so long...
Until recently, professional astronomers, more concerned with planets, distant galaxies, quasars and pulsars, left the observing of comets largely to amateurs. Comets were "bagfuls of nothing," sniffed Percival Lowell, the turn-of-the-century astronomer who made a career of observing Mars. Since that putdown, scientists have learned to take comets more seriously-as primordial chunks of matter left over from the birth of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago. Thus Kohoutek, which was spotted first at the Hamburg Observatory last March, offers a splendid opportunity for observers to learn more about the drama of creation. Indeed, because...
...Comet Flight. Excitement about the comet is not confined to scientists. Planetariums round the world are drawing overflow crowds for Kohoutek shows. Telescopes and binoculars are being sold at an exceptionally brisk pace; Edmund Scientific Co., of Barrington, N.J., reports a 200% gain this year in its sale of telescopes; Los Angeles' Marschutz Optical Co. is completely sold out. This week the Queen Elizabeth 2 sailed from New York, booked to the gunwales with 1,693 passengers on a three-day comet cruise. Before dawn every morning, passengers were invited to the decks for telescope viewing and comet lectures...
...reaction to Kohoutek is also taking more metaphysical forms. A militant Jesus cult called the Children of God, which claims a worldwide membership, is convinced that the comet is an omen of disaster and is directly predicting doomsday ("Forty days," warns the group's leader "Moses David" Berg, and "Nineveh shall be destroyed!"). A different alarm is sounded by the Italian parapsychologist Astaroth, 52 (real name: Claudio Giannantonio), who counsels members of the Rome political and movie set. Astaroth explains that comets disrupt the "psychomagnet-ic equilibrium" of the planetary system. He adds: "Human beings will be drawn...