Remembering the Great Comet of 1997

I wasn't expecting to see the great comet when I took out the garbage early in the morning on March 2, 1997. I wasn't expecting it because the previous day I had been using the then infantile internet to find out when the comet would be visible. The information I had seen the day before indicated that I wouldn't see Hale-Bopp until summer, yet as I looked at the fuzzy star in the distance, I could see that something was different from any other night sky feature I had ever seen. I knew what I was seeing and retrieved a small notebook and pen from my front shirt pocket to record the event. It was too dark to see the page, or what I was writing, but I scratched out the following words:

"Looking @ Hale-Bopp for first time 5:10 AM March 2 - 97"

As long as I can remember, I have wanted to see a real comet. Astronomy has always been interesting to me, and I'm certainly no stranger to the night sky. I've spent countless hours sleeping under the starry canopy of the Milky Way Galaxy, and gazing up in awe at the wondrous eternities stretched out before me. Comets have always intrigued me, but the comets in astronomy books were either drawings of old wood carvings or fuzzy images.

I remember what a disappointment Haley's Comet was back in 1986. It could only be viewed through a telescope, and that wasn't something I had access to at the time.

Then on April 3 of 1996, the comet Hyakutake became visible to the naked eye when a total lunar eclipse briefly darkened the night sky. Still, the comet was quite disappointing, but was still a unique and memorable experience that I shared with my family including my sister and her kids.

Then came Hale-Bopp. From that moment in the early morning hours, I watched the great comet get closer every night until it was the largest object in the night sky. The two sparkling tails streaming from the comet appeared to paint the indigo sky with an almost magical luminescent glow. I was living in Southern Utah at the time, and the arid desert air aided in making the heavenly spectacle clear and highly visible as I watched the comet's nightyly progress across the sky. It began to feel as though the two-tailed comet had become a permanent fixture of the night sky, and perhaps even somewhat commonplace. After months of observing Hale-Bopp, it almost seemed like it would last forever. But, eventually, the cosmic visitor disappeared from sight.

The great comet of 1997 may be gone, but I will never forget the magnificant splendor and beauty of Hale-Bopp.