Six months in mid-1996 were unusually rich on comets: we had Hyakutake in March-April, then Hale-Bopp became brighter than 6m and then - comet Tabur. It seems that one was able to observe simultaneously or in turn three comets visible by naked eye only once during last 16 years. It was in the end of '89 - beginning of '90 when 4th magnitude comet Okazaki-Levi-Rudenko, 3m Aarset-Brewington and 1m Austin reached their maximum brightness during 6 months. Another remarkable occasion took place in May-June of 1983 when at first comet IRAS-Araki-Alcock passed only 10 times further from the Earth than the Moon is and brightened up to 1.5m and after that comet discovered by trio of Japanese amateurs Sugano, Saiguza and Fujikawa also missed a little the surface of our home planet. By the way, though this page is intended mostly for non-professionals, I'd like to ask everybody - do you remember other occasions when 2 or 3 bright comets were seen at once? If you do, please let me know by E-mail.

Image of Comet Hale-Bopp - my first attempt at astrophotography!

The other astronomical highlights of the end of 20th century are listed here. Yet more striking events are to happen soon - the beginning of new millennium is promising to be hot for amateur astronomers and even for laypeople!

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