dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (12/28/85)
Comet Kohoutek came nearest the sun on this date eleven years ago. More on Kohoutek -- after this. December 28 Comet Kohoutek On today's date eleven years ago Comet Kohoutek reached its perihelion, or closest point to the sun. Kohoutek had first been spotted almost ten months before -- in March of l973. At that time the comet was as far from the sun as the orbit of Jupiter -- and it was unusually bright. Astronomers predicted that we'd eventually see Kohoutek as a spectacular comet easily visible to the naked eye. Well, as you may know, Kohoutek wasn't very spectacular. But it WAS an excellent comet for scientific study. Since it was discovered so many months before its closest point to the sun, there was plenty of time for plans to be made to study it. Kohoutek was studied by astronauts aboard the space station Skylab. The Skylab astronauts followed Kohoutek's progress for several days both before and perihelion. The Skylab astronauts used a coronagraph -- a device which blocks out the disk of the sun -- to observe Kohoutek to within twelve hours of perihelion. Just a day after the comet had come closest to the sun, the astronauts saw the comet again while spacewalking outside Skylab. Astronaut Edward Gibson drew a series of sketches of the comet. Gibson reported that he often used binoculars to view Kohoutek while peering out the window of the space station. Kohoutek's orbit was calculated to be parabolic -- taking the comet out of the solar system. Unlike Comet Halley -- which young children may have a second chance to see in their lifetimes -- none of us will ever see Comet Kohoutek again. Script by Diana Hadley. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin