University Daily Kansan
Wednesday, August 25, 1973
5
Most Brilliant Comet Since 1933 To Be Visible in Lawrence Soon
my PAT BREITENSTEIN
Kansan Staff Reporter
Kohoutek, the brightest comet to pass over North America since the last visit of Haley's Comet in 1933, will be visible in Laurence startins in late October.
Thomas Armstrong, associate professor of physics and astronomy, said yesterday that Kohutok would be visible just before midnight on December 12th, all of November and most of December.
Armstrong said that the tail of Kohoutek, at its brightest point late in December or early January, may stretch across one-half of the distance from horizon to horizon.
Kohoutek will disappear temporarily during part of December and early January but will reappear and remain visible in the evening until early March, Armstrong said.
PLANS TO ALLOW students to view the comet through equipment at the KU observatory are under consideration, Armstrong said. Nothing definite has been found of an impacting object on the normal classroom requirements of the equipment, he said.
"This boiling action results in the release of gases that form the comet's tail. The tail of the comet is visible because of its reaction with solar wind," Armstrong said.
The solar wind, part of the atmosphere of the sun that is constantly being released, causes the tail to always point away from the sun, Armstrong said.
HE SAID THAT it was possible that the comet would have two tails, depending on the reaction of the solar wind with the comet's vapor.
"Whatever the condition of the tail," Armstrong said, "the comet will be big for sure, the biggest and brightest since Haley and possibly even bigger than that. At its closest approach, it should be about as bright as the North Star and perhaps only slightly dimmer than the moon."
Armstrong said that a comet was a fuzzy ball composed of ice and solidified gases. Comets are different from other celestial bodies in that a comet's gases will vaporize as the comet approaches the sun and begins to boil.
Armstrong said that at KU most em- armstrong could teach the course of or ascertain its alien's desire to con-
correction
The Student Union Activities membership meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow instead of 7 p.m. as the Kansas reported that we will be in the Kansas University Ballroom.
The College Republicans will meet tomorrow, not today as reported in yesterday's Kansan. The meeting will be at the Jawayh Room of the Kansas Union.
travel and composition. Spectrographic
composition comet could help determine
in composition.
THESE SURVEYS are important because the origin of comets is still unknown, Armstrong said. One theory suggests that space between our solar system and the Sun contains millions of comets and only occasionally is one drawn into our solar system, he said.
Another theory is that comets are composed of debris left when the solar system was first formed. If it could be determined that the comet contained material that was found in other bodies in our solar system, this could help explain its origin, he said. Armstrong said that NASA might delay the completion of the current Skylab mission so that the Skylab crew could make observations of the comet.
BLAH, BLAH, BLAH
BLAH, BLAH, BLAH
BLAH, POOBAH IS
DEFINITELY NOT A
CASE OF...BLAH, B
BLAH, BLAH, BLAH,
BLAH, BLAH, BLAH
SUA CONCERT INTERVIEWS
for the Sonny & Cher Show
Sign up in the SUA Office Friday, August 31 or Tuesday, September 4. Interviews to be held week of September 4.
Positions Available:
GENERAL CHAIRMAN
ARRANGEMENTS CHAIRMAN
PUBLICITY CHAIRMAN & COMMITTEE
TICKETS CHAIRMAN (2) & COMMITTEE
SECURITY CHAIRMAN
USHERS CHAIRMAN
HOSPITALITY CHAIRMAN
SUA membership meeting
7:30 p.m. thursday
kansas union ballroom
THE LEON RUSSELL SHOW
with special guest stars R.E.O. SPEEDWAGON, and JOE WALSH & BARNSTORM and featuring MARY McCREARY
LEON RUSSEL
A COLLEGE CELEBRATION
CESSNA STADIUM WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY
SEPTEMBER 3,1973 LABOR DAY
OUTSIDE
Music All Day Total Freedom
Tickets Available at:
Tickets Available at:
Kief's Records—Lawrence
Choosey Beggar—Kansas City
Caper's Corners—Kansas City
Tickets $6.00 in Advance
$7.00 Day of Concert
O U T S I D E
Music Starts at
High Noon
Doors Open 9:30 a.m.