HOW DID WE FIND OUT ABOUT COMETS?

Again Asimov takes readers through the thought processes of the ancients (here seen puzzling out the unpredictable behavior of the "aster kometes" or "hairy star" that seems to bring earthly disaster in its wake) and traces the collective process of "finding out" about comets from Aristotelian misconception through instrument-aided observation. Tycho Brahe, Copernicus, Kepler, Borelli, Newton and Halley all have their say, each one supplementing and/or correcting, the last, and other lesser known astronomers take it from there, working out comets' orbits and schedules, their connection with meteors, and the role of solar wind in their formation. Not as solid or involving as How Did We Find Out the Earth Is Round (KR, 1973), but a steady progression of discoveries that readers will have no trouble catching by the tail.