Not with a bang ...

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33425, 5 January 1974, Page 1

Not with a bang ...

Comet Kohoutek, predicted by astronomers to be the most spectacular comet this century — and predicted by some to herald the end of the earth — is. in layman’s I terms, a “fizzer.”

Already fading, the comet 1 has never approached its) predicted brilliance and has; not been visible to the naked ' eye. If, as pamphlets distri-i buted by a religious group in Christchurch yesterday claim, the comet is a sign of Armageddon, then T. S. Eliot was probably right: the end; will come “not with a bang, but a whimper.” Even well-equipped observatories. such as that at! Mount John, have yet to see! the comet, although bad weather and awkward cloud have; made their task extremely; difficult. The director of the Mount* John Observatory, at Lake Tekapo (Mr D. B. Mabin) ( said last evening that the keen-eyed, armed with good) binoculars or a telescope, I could still see the comet low I in the western sky soon afterl sunset Tonight it will set! about an hour after the sun J and it will set a little later! each night until by the end' of next week it will dip be-! low the horizon two hours! after the sun. “The comet is a little) south of west and should not! be confused with the brighter objects which are the planets Venus and Jupiter,” said Mr! Mabin. “It is not nearly as bright! as expected, and will continue to grow fainter now as it heads away into space.; Slightly off-setting this is its! position in the sky, a little! further away from the sun! each night and therefore ini a blacker area of sky, but it I is most unlikely anyone will' be able to see it with the; naked eye,” he said. !