The comets approach position in Saggitarius meant that the sun would hide it for our winter nights. Also being immensely far away at seven times the Earth-Sun distance we had a lot of time to prepare for its perihelion. When comet Hale Bopp had just disappeared , comet DiVico dropped around for a visit. It was bright, cute, and fun practice tracking it in the city with a pair of binos.

Not to be upstaged by the big one, Hyakutake swung in for a closer look at the sun missing us by only 11 million kilometres. My primitive mind gasped; how could this comet be better than Hale-Bopp?! Swiftly I switched my viewing allegiance. Hyakutake stole the souls of Earthlings in the north with it incredible tail. The comet came and went quickly, alot like the feeling in my hands and feet when observing.

While the weather was still cold Hale-Bopp reappears. Shaped like a small v , it was a curiosity to observers. I can't shake the jaws music.

The fall of 96 brought comet Tabur. I am now ecstatic to see two comets at one time in the sky. The evening skies showed Tabur in the big dipper and Hale-Bopp low in the south west; lower yet was Jupiter.

During the winter months I enjoyed many hours of explaining to students what and where to view the comets. More children actually saw Hale-Bopp than Hykutake, probably because it was around for an extended period of time. Although some missed both. I muttered my condolences to those few. Practically speaking, most deep sky observers and general public did not turn their attention to this great comet Hale-Bopp until mid to late January 1997.

As Hale-Bopp grew in intensity with its two tails so did interest in astronomy, and rightly so. Comets are like art masterpieces, no one see them the same as you. Which one did you like most?