There was no better
free show in all of
1996-
97. After the disappointment of the
1986 almost-
invisible-even-with-a-
telescope Halley's Comet, there was serious
excitement in being able to go outside on a clear night and see a real
comet with the
naked eye.
On some nights, after the local TV
weatherman had said it was a good night to go
comet-watching, most of the
neighborhood could be found outside,
ooh-ing and aah-ing over the
light show. That many people,
old and
young, all looking up at the
night sky,
marveling at a
cosmic event that wouldn't happen again for
4,000 years, watching
stars that they hadn't looked at in ages. It was genuinely exciting to see people out looking at the miracles of the
cosmos that we normally ignored.