I have been thinking for a while that I made four separate flights into the coma of the comet to deliver the ordnance that would divert the comet. I am still thinking that just as I was about the clear the coma on that first return to my Project Orion ship for another round of ordnance, I smacked into a large boulder as I was maneuvering to avoid other objects and my shuttle craft, or whatever we called it, was a total wreck. I had some kind of maneuvering thrusters that I used to get back to my Orion ship, but I almost didn't make it. I am also still thinking I incorporated that incident into the 1979 "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" in the scene where "Spock" uses an escape suit to fly into the "V'Ger" ship. I made 3 more flights into the comet and fortunately didn't have anymore collisions as that was my only other shuttle craft for transporting the ordnance. The mission was succesfully completed on 7/4/1976, as astronomers on Earth would later confirm, and then I left for the Jupiter moon Callisto, where I thought my oxygen supply would run out. I found water ice on the moon though and was able to convert enough to oxygen to make a return to Earth on 4/14/1977.
From 4/14/1977 to 1/30/1996 is: 18 years, 41 weeks, 4 days
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Hyakutake
Comet Hyakutake ( formally designated C/1996 B2) is a comet that was discovered in January 1996, which passed very close to Earth in March of that year. It was dubbed The Great Comet of 1996; its passage near the Earth was one of the closest cometary approaches of the previous 200 years. Hyakutake appeared very bright in the night sky and was widely seen around the world. The comet temporarily upstaged the much anticipated Comet Hale-Bopp, which was approaching the inner solar system at the time.
Scientific observations of the comet led to several discoveries. Most surprising to cometary scientists was the first discovery of X-ray emission from a comet, believed to have been caused by ionised solar wind particles interacting with neutral atoms in the coma of the comet. The Ulysses spacecraft unexpectedly crossed the comet's tail at a distance of more than 500 million km from the nucleus, showing that Hyakutake had the longest tail known for a comet.
Hyakutake is a long-period comet. Before its most recent passage through the solar system, its orbital period was about 15,000 years, but the gravitational influence of the giant planets has increased this period to 72,000 years.
The comet was discovered on January 30, 1996 by Yuji Hyakutake, an amateur astronomer from southern Japan.[1] He had been searching for comets for years and had moved to Kagoshima partly for the dark skies in nearby rural areas. He was using a powerful set of binoculars with six-inch objective lenses to scan the skies on the night of the discovery.
This comet was actually the second Comet Hyakutake; Hyakutake had discovered comet C/1995 Y1 several weeks earlier.[2] While re-observing his first comet (which never became visible to the naked eye) and the surrounding patch of sky, Hyakutake was surprised to find another comet in almost the same position as the first had been. Hardly believing a second discovery so soon after the first, Hyakutake reported his observation to the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan the following morning.[3] Later that day, the discovery was confirmed by independent observations.
When the first calculations of the comet's orbit were made, scientists realised that the comet was going to pass just 0.1 AU from the Earth on 25 March.[6] Only three comets in the previous century had passed closer. Comet Hale-Bopp was already being discussed as a possible "great comet"; the astronomical community eventually realised that Hyakutake might also become spectacular because of its close approach.
Hyakutake became visible to the naked eye in early March 1996. By mid-March, the comet was still fairly unremarkable, shining at 4th magnitude with a tail about 5 degrees long. As it neared its closest approach to Earth, it rapidly became brighter, and its tail grew in length. By March 24, the comet was one of the brightest objects in the night sky, and its tail stretched 35 degrees. The comet had a notably bluish-green colour.[5]
The closest approach occurred on 25 March. Hyakutake was moving so rapidly across the night sky that its movement could be detected against the stars in just a few minutes; it covered the diameter of a full moon (half a degree) every 30 minutes. Observers estimated its magnitude as around 0, and tail lengths of up to 80 degrees were reported.[5] Its coma, now close to the zenith for observers at mid-northern latitudes, appeared approximately 1.5 to 2 degrees across, roughly four times the diameter of the full moon.[5] Even to the naked eye, the comet's head appeared distinctly green, due to strong emissions from diatomic carbon (C2).
Because Hyakutake was at its brightest for only a few days, it did not have time to permeate the public imagination in the way that Comet Hale-Bopp did the following year. Many European observers in particular did not see the comet at its peak because of unfavourable weather conditions.
I can still visualizing seeing Comet Hale-Bopp in the night sky. Tina Mason was a receptionist at a law firm that I did computer support for and she asked me to look at her home computer. I can still visualize standing there in her apartment showing her son, Philip, how to properly throw a baseball. I "remember" that Tina's boyfriend, an elevator repairman, was due home soon. Next I "remember," we were standing outside and Tina pointed out Comet Hale-Bopp to us in the sky as she went back inside for a minute. In my artificial and symbolic memory, Tina Mason resembles the film actress Bette Davis.
From 4/14/1977 to 7/23/1995 is: 953 weeks, 3 days
9-5-3-3 >>> 3-3-5-9
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Hale-Bopp
Comet Hale-Bopp (formally designated C/1995 O1) was probably the most widely observed comet of the twentieth century, and one of the brightest seen for many decades. It was visible to the naked eye for a record 18 months, twice as long as the previous record holder, the Great Comet of 1811.
Hale-Bopp was discovered on 23 July 1995 at a very large distance from the Sun, raising expectations that the comet could become very bright when it passed close to the Sun. Although comet brightnesses are very difficult to predict with any degree of accuracy, Hale-Bopp met or exceeded most predictions for its brightness when it passed perihelion on April 1, 1997. The comet was dubbed the Great Comet of 1997.
As impressive as the comet was, it could have been much more impressive. Had it passed as close to Earth as Comet Hyakutake (C/1996 B2) did in 1996 (0.1 AU), then the comet's tail would have spanned the entire sky and it would have been brighter than the full moon. However, even though its closest approach to Earth was at a distance of 1.315 AU [2], a distance which would have rendered many lesser comets totally invisible, Hale-Bopp still spanned half the sky with its two tails, although the longest reaches of the tails were too faint to be visible to the naked eye.
For almost everyone who saw it, Hale-Bopp was simply a beautiful and spectacular sight in the evening skies. Its lengthy period of visibility and extensive coverage in the media meant that the comet was probably the most-observed comet in history, making a far greater impact on the general public than the return of Halley's Comet in 1986 did, and certainly being seen by a greater number of people than witnessed any of Halley's previous appearances. It was a record-breaking comet: discovered the furthest from the Sun, with the largest cometary nucleus known, and it was visible to the naked eye for twice as long as the previous record-holder. It was also brighter than magnitude 0 for eight weeks, longer than any other comet in the past thousand years.
