In a popular television commercial, a scientist searches for a piece of chewing gum and misses a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see a spectacular comet.
Choice of gum aside, the ad is misleading, according to a Mississippi State University scientist.
"Despite common belief, comets don't zoom across the sky, but are plainly visible for weeks or months at a time," said Patrick Lestrade, professor of physics and astronomy. "I don't know what the man in the commercial is looking at, but it's not a comet."
Lestrade's professional observation should be reassuring news for skywatchers who want to view Hale-Bopp, this world's newest "discovered" comet.
First observed in 1995 by amateur astronomers Alan Hale of New Mexico and Tom Bopp of Arizona, the heavenly body is visible to Mississippians in the northwestern sky after sunset. More than 40 miles wide, it will pass within 120 million miles of Earth at its closest point and is expected to produce a stunning display for observers.
The most spectacular views should be from late March through April.
If the comet alone weren't enough, recent photographs taken by an amateur astronomer show what appears to be a "Saturn-like object" trailing closely behind. Speculation in some quarters even suggested that the trailing object possibly could collide with Earth.
Not so, Lestrade emphasized. "Enough good astronomers have checked out the claims made by the photographer and have proven that there is nothing to it. It's just bad science and an example of someone trying to take advantage of a natural event."
Regardless of the controversy, Hale-Bopp "could be the brightest comet that people today will ever see," Lestrade said, before adding a final note of astronomic caution.
"Though it's a very large comet, you really can't tell how it's going to go," he said. "Halley's Comet was supposed to be spectacular (in 1986), but it was a dud."