Flash! Comet Hale-Bopp is not being escorted through the solar system by a hollow alien spacecraft four times the size of the Earth.
That's the bad news.
The good news is that the comet is on course for a spectacular springtime display. It should provide backyard astronomers with a nighttime show at least as good as the naked-eye appearance by Comet Hyakutake in March.
Hale-Bopp is sure to be the highlight of a 1997 astronomy calendar that also promises a near-total eclipse of the moon in March, and a striking lineup of planets in late December.
Comets are notoriously fickle. Comet hunter David Levy has compared them to cats: "They have tails," he said, "and they do precisely what they want."
But most observers say Hale-Bopp is continuing to brighten as it nears the sun. It should make a good appearance in the morning sky in February and early March, and in the evening by mid-March through April. Its closest approach to the Earth is March 23.
It caused quite a stir when it was first discovered in July 1995. Working independently, American amateurs Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp spotted the comet well beyond the orbit of Jupiter. And it already appeared 1,000 times brighter than Halley's Comet did at the same distance.
As it continued to brighten, astronomers began to speculate that Hale-Bopp would become one of the brightest, most spectacular naked-eye comets of the century.
The comet's buzz took an odd turn last month when an amateur astronomer in Houston announced on a radio talk show that he had spotted a strange "Saturn-like-object" alongside the comet that didn't appear on his computerized star charts.
Internet chatter soon twisted the discussion. Cyber-rumor had it that the comet was changing course under the influence of the giant object. The object itself became a gigantic alien spacecraft, four times the size of Earth and the source of radio transmissions.
The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore was soon accused of conspiring to withhold photographs of the spacecraft shot by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Professional astronomers quickly countered that the "alien spacecraft" in the amateur's photo was actually a well-documented star. And space telescope scientists said Hubble has taken -- and published -- photos of the comet. They showed no alien spacecraft, nor have any other photos of the comet snapped by observatories around the world.
