SPECIAL REPORT: Kohoutek: Comet of the Century

Some day there will arise a man who will demonstrate in what regions of the heavens the comets take their way; why they journey so far apart from the other plan ets; what their size, their nature.

— Seneca

That prophecy, written by the Roman philosopher and statesman nearly 2,000 years ago, may soon be fulfilled. Growing brighter every morning in the predawn sky, one of the largest comets ever seen by man, its elongating tail stretching across millions of miles of space, is streaking toward a Christmas rendezvous with the sun....