For more than 2200 years of recorded history, comets have
played a unique role in culture and science. However, it is only in the past 400 years
that these heavenly bodies have been scientifically studied to determine their origin and
composition. During 1985 and 1986, six spacecraft probed Comets Halley and
Giacobini-Zinner, and returned more information on comets than had been gathered in the
past centuries.
| Comet Seeker 
137K GIF - 49K JPEG
© Smithsonian Institution, NASM Photo
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This special telescope is called a Comet Seeker. Built about 1900,
it was designed to detect the faint diffuse glow of small cometary tails. This telescope
was constructed as a prototype by the Brashear Company for Yerkes Observatory.
Lent to the National Air and Space Museum by D.H. DeVorkin |
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