Thank you for downloading Witness History from the BBC World Service with me, Russell

Crew.

Today I'm taking you back to the 23rd of July 1995 and the discovery of one of the most

widely observed comets of the 20th century Hellbop.

Some people predict that it may be the comet of the century ten times, larger and perhaps

a hundred times brighter than Halley's comet.

Dr Alan Hell was living in the town of Cloudcroft in southern New Mexico.

It's a perfect location for any astronomer thanks to the exceptionally dark and often

clear skies and it was there that he set up his equipment to study the Cosmos one summer

evening.

Gorgeous clear all day.

The forecast was gorgeously clear for that night so I was going to make that observation

for that night and I was following another comet as well.

I heard the first comet and finished over that just before midnight.

I got about an hour to wait before the other one.

The one I was really interested in rose above the house.

A comet is a large object made of dust and ice that orbits the sun.

They are best known for their long streaming tails and are leftovers from the formation

of the solar system over 4.5 billion years ago.

By 1995 astronomer Alan Hell had observed over 200 known comets and while waiting to observe

another two he spotted something unfamiliar.

So it was a gorgeously clear night.

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