Comet Hale-Bopp was probably the most widely-observed comet of the last century, and one of the brightest seen for many decades. It was visible to the naked eye for a record 18 months, twice as long as the previous record holder, the Great Comet of 1811. Hale-Bopp was discovered on July 23, 1995 at a very large distance from the sun, raising expectations that the comet could become very bright when it passed close to the sun. Although comet brightnesses are very difficult to predict with any degree of accuracy, Hale-Bopp met or exceeded most predictions for its brightness when it passed perihelion on April 1, 1997. The comet was dubbed the Great Comet of 1997. The passage of Hale-Bopp was notable also for inciting a degree of panic about comets not seen for decades. Rumours that the comet was being followed by an alien spacecraft gained remarkable currency, and inspired a mass suicide among followers of the Heaven's Gate cult.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Hale-Bopp

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1831: The French Foreign Legion was established by King Louis-Philippe to support his war in Algeria. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Foreign_Legion)

1876: Alexander Graham Bell made his first successful telephone call. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/telephone)

1952: Forbidden by law to seek re-election, former President Fulgencio Batista staged a coup d'état to resume control in Cuba. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgencio_Batista)

2000: The NASDAQ stock index peaked at 5048.62, the high point of the dot-com boom. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/dot-com)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"A loser doesn't know what he'll do if he loses, but talks about what he'll do if he wins, and a winner doesn't talk about what he'll do if he wins, but knows what he'll do if he loses." -- Eric Berne (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eric_Berne)