Second chance to catch a comet If your quest to see the first
comet doesn't pan out -- get it? (OK, that's bad) -- we might
get to see a better comet later in 2013: Comet ISON. ISON was
discovered by Russian astronomers Vitali Nevski and Artyom
Novichonok in September 2012. It's named after their night-sky
survey program, the International Scientific Optical Network.
Some early comet prognosticators -- and reporters -- have tagged
ISON "the Comet of Century." But Yeomans isn't buying it just
yet. He remembers being duped by another comet with that same
moniker. In 1973, Kohoutek was hyped, too, and it fizzled.
"Predicting the behavior of comets is like predicting the
behavior of cats -- can't really be done," he said. So here is
the hype on ISON: On November 28, it is expected to dive into
the sun's atmosphere. If it survives, it might glow as brightly
as the moon and be briefly visible in daylight. Its tail might
stretch far across the night sky. Battams is optimistic, but he
said we won't know until late su