How bright will the comet be at perihelion ?
The main question now asked from many sides is obviously how bright the comet will be when it passes perihelion in 1997. Will it, as some headlines have already stated, and in view of its current brightness, become the `comet of the century, if not of the millennium’ ? From the above, it is clear that no firm prediction can be made before we have learned whether the present brightness is `stable’ or whether it undergoes important variations which indicate that there has been a recent outburst. Astronomers are therefore very reluctant to express themselves on this point until further observations become available. However, if the comet did not undergo a recent outburst and the nucleus is indeed as large as the current brightness would appear to indicate, then the comet may possibly become very bright at perihelion. Experience has shown that the evolution of a comet’s brightness as it approaches the Sun in general depends on its orbital type. Comets with periods of a few hundreds to some
