The Comet

There be no comet in this picture.

I was walking down the street when a woman pulled up next to me.  She rolled down the car window and gestured excitedly.

“Look! Look at the sky!”

I looked up. Rather a nice sunset, but not remarkable enough to make it seem necessary to alert random passers-by

“There! Look! The comet!”

The comet! What… oh. Ah. The woman was pointing at something that admittedly resembled a comet, but definitely wasn’t one. I had to correct her.

“Um, er, to tell you the truth, it wouldn’t be that big and br…”

“That cannot be an airplane trail!”

“Actually, I think…”

“They said in the news you could see it now!”

“But that’s even in the wrong dir…”

“Isn’t it marvellous!” she exclaimed, waved, and drove away. I was left standing alone, gaping at the non-comet.

Well, that’s zero points to knowledge and communication.

Given another chance, I’d again do my best to spoil her fun, because that’s the kind of a bore I am. I think it’s worth knowing and understanding what you see. Most of the marvels of the universe are not that obviously on display, but it usually turns out they’re no less marvellous even if spotting them takes a lot of squinting. All you need to appreciate their marvellousness is some knowledge. And the wonderful fact is that the more you know, the more fascinating they are. I don’t mean to ridicule The Unknown Woman, I just hope she will be inspired to do some reading so that if she ever sees a comet as big and bright as that sunlit, comet-impersonating vapour trail she admired today, she’ll know to be well and truly impressed and astonished.

And possibly somewhat alarmed.

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FYI: The comet ISON cometh! For information, photos, advice on spotting the comet, etc. see EarthSky, for example. I just spotted this great Waiting for ISON blog you might want to check out, too. Finns: get thee to Ursa’s page for updates.