The first respectable naked-eye comet to enter our Solar System in about
20 years (comet SL-9 that slammed into Jupiter in '94 wasn't visible
with the eye, and the great comet Halley in '86 was not placed well),
comet Hyakutake was discovered by an amateur astronomer only a few
months before this picture was taken! Imagine where we'd be now if it
was on a head-on collision with Earth! This was a rather small (about a
mile in diameter), but relatively fast-moving (about 100,000mph) and
VERY CLOSE (1/10th as far as the sun, about 40 times farther than the
Moon) comet.  It caught most astronomy magazines off-guard; it was
months after the comet appeared before it appeared in them. Thank
goodness for the Internet, where I was able to get finder charts for it,
tho, when I took my picture, it was very obvious that I didn't need a
chart.  This picture was taken when it was brightest to Earth-bound
observers (apx mag -0.5). This comet won't be back again for about
another 8,000 years!


        taken 03/26/96, prime focus f/6.3, ASA 200, 2min