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J. LINDER/ESO 5 Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1) The magnificent Comet Hale-Bopp was already visible to the naked eye in May 1996, nearly a year before it reached perihelion. While astronomers debate whether NEOWISE qualifies as a great comet, we can all agree on one thing: Hopefully, the next great comet will arrive amid more auspicious circumstances. FEATURES COMETS PROVIDE PHOTOGRAPHERS with endless possibilities. [Extracted from the article]

Discusses images and data that yield quantitative information about Halley's Comet, obtained by spacecraft probes. Notion of the so-called 'Dirty snowball' model of comet structure; Clues to the nature of materials that formed the solar system; Use of results from the Giotto mission for this study; Significance.

The article focuses on the Rosetta space probe from the European Space Agency which will deorbit onto the surface of comet 67P/Chuyumov-Gerasimenko on September 30, 2016. It states that a spectrometer on Rosetta suggests Earth didn't get most of its water from comets and talks about photographs of the comet taken by the probe. It comments on the Philae probe launched from Rosetta which landed on the comet, and public engagement with the discoveries.

The article reports that the European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta spacecraft entered orbit around the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Topics include photographs taken of the comet's surface; the rover Philae that Rosetta will land in November 2014; and the mission's research into the comet's composition, structure and possible complex organic molecules.

The article presents astronomical images submitted by readers of the magazine "Astronomy," including a photograph of the constellation Cassiopeia, photographs of globular star clusters, and photos of Comet McNaught.

The article offers photographs of comets. Most observers would be happy to discover just one comet. American amateur astronomer Don Machholz has found 10. Using a six-inch Newtonian reflector, he had been searching the early-morning sky August 27, 2004, when he found a fuzzy, 11th-magnitude object in Eridanus the River. His latest find was a fine binocular sight this past winter. But the comet was not bright when Machholz found it. A photograph shows the standard parts of Machholz's most recent comet: the head, coma, and tail, which--because of the solar wind--points away from the Sun to the upper right. To the lower right of the head is the anti-tail--particles left along the comet's orbit that are too heavy for the solar wind to move.

Showcases several astronomical photographs. Includes comet NEAT by Loke Kun Tan; Star Gamma Cgyni by Rainer Mannoff; M78 nebula by Jay McNeil.

Focuses on the Skylab astronauts and their study of Comet Kohoutek. Visibility of Kohoutek from the spacecraft; Plans for observing the comet; Details of the astronauts' comet watch; Instruments that were used to study Kohoutek, including a Far Ultraviolet Camera; Size of the cometary particles.

Presents images and descriptions of various celestial objects submitted by the readers of 'Astronomy' magazine. Photos of the transit of Venus across the sun, and various comets.

This article presents information on the study of distant comets in 1990. To capture comets in their unadulterated state, David Jewitt of the University of Hawaii at Manoa and others are looking far beyond Earth to regions where iceballs could exist free from the threat of solar melting and Jupiter's gravitational influence. Several of the new surveys will involve not just groundbased observations but also the careful tracking of two National Aeronautics and Space Administration spacecraft about to hurtle through the proposed Kuiper belt -- a region lying just beyond Neptune's orbit and believed to contain as many as 100 million comets. Another comet-hunting team relies on high-quality photographic plates at the Great Britain Schmidt telescope at Siding Springs Observatory, in New South Wales, Australia. Researchers compare sequential images spanning three consecutive nights, looking for slow-moving objects that display a distant comet's telltale path, or trajectory. Another method for seeking distant comets emerged in January at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Arlington, Virginia. Developed by Charles Alcock of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and his colleagues, the technique relies on a well-known phenomenon called stellar occultation: When comets of large enough size pass in front of a star, they momentarily block the starlight from astronomers' view. INSET: Visitor from the Oort cloud?.

Informs that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Hubble Space Telescope has probed the inner region of the comet Hyakutake. The probe as the comet passed by Earth in late March 1996; Origin of the comet's name; Photographs from the telescope.

The article explains that the comet 85P/Boethin will be viewable through binoculars during the month of December 2008. The authors provide information on where it will be located in the night sky and how bright it will appear. While it is close enough to observe, researchers will gather information using cameras on a nearby space vehicle for future study.

The article reports that the comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 (S-W 3) has been crumbling since 1995, most likely due to thermal stress. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope captured an image of the comet in May 2006 when it came within 6 million miles of Earth; it showed at least 36 separate fragments. The comet will come close to Earth again in 2022 and 2049.

The article reports on the crumbling of Comet 73P/Schwassman-Wachmann 3. The pieces of the comet will pass within 11.7 million kilometers of Earth--the closest any comet has come to Earth in 20 years. The ongoing breakup of the comet attests that the cores of comets are fragile. The article mentions infrared images of the comet taken with the Spitzer Space Telescope.

Presents a photograph depicting Comet Macholz as it made a close flyby of the Pleiades M45 in Taurus on January 2005.

The article reports that an analysis of images taken by the Cassini spacecraft in early June 2004, several weeks before the craft settled into orbit about Saturn, has revealed two tiny moons orbiting the ringed planet. The newly detected moons, each of which takes about a day to orbit Saturn, lie between the paths of two larger satellites, Mimas and Enceladus. The moons provide new evidence that the Kuiper belt, a reservoir of icy bodies at the solar system's outer edge, might not have quite as many small, house-size comets as planetary scientists have assumed.

Presents observations regarding the placement of the planet Venus and the star group Pleiades during the month of April 2004. Advice on the use of binoculars to view the conjuction; Anticipation of the arrival of several spring comets; Suggestion that time-exposure or time-lapse photography can be used to record the lineup between the Moon, Venus, and Mars.

Presents a photograph of the Hale-Bopp comet as seen in the far-southern constellation of Mensa. Magnitude; Emissions from methanol and hydrogen cyanide; Activity within the comet nucleus.

Focuses on the article of Ray LaFontaine in `The Washington Post' which features astronomer Chuck Shramek who posted on the Internet a telescopic photograph of a comet. Description of the photograph; Views of Courtney Brown on the picture; Explanation made by Art Bell and Whitley Strieber after posting the photo on their web pages; Claims of University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy on the photograph posted by Bell and Strieber on the Internet.

Presents a photograph of Comet Hale-Bopp captured by Loyd Overcash at the McDonald Observatory in west Texas, in early April 1997. Visibility of the blue ion tail.

Reports on images recently released showing the surprise brightening of Comet Halley, first observed in February 1991. Focus on comet's coma; Previous decrease in size and brightness of cloud; Unknown reasons for outburst.