Lecture: The Famous Comets of History

The lecture will take place in the David Pecker Lecture Hall, located in Wilcox Hall.

Comets come in two varieties: "common" comets, which are visible in telescopes, binoculars and dimly with the naked eye, and "great" comets, which stand above all of the other comets appearing in a given year as being stupendously bright and/or fantastically structured. Unfortunately, such celestial showpieces only appear on an average of about once in 20 to 25 years. Over the past few centuries there have been some truly amazing comets that have adorned our skies. Joe will be with us at Pace for a live presentation. Joe Rao has been an assiduous amateur astronomer for nearly 60 years. He was a broadcast meteorologist for over 40 years, holding the Seals of Approval of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and National Weather Association (NWA). He still serves as an associate and guest lecturer at New…