Chapter 6 Chapter 2 First Sight

Humans don't have to go beyond the earth to appreciate the beauty of the sky. Not only in space, but also on any high mountain far away from light pollution. On a clear night, you can also have a panoramic view of the sky full of stars.Because even in space, the stars outside the atmosphere will appear brighter, but the human naked eye still cannot distinguish the difference.What's more, the breathtaking view of half the celestial sphere can be seen at a glance, which cannot be provided by the windows of any observation station. But Dr. Buddha was content with his personal window on the universe, especially when human settlements were shadowed by the slow-moving space medical center, and looking out of his rectangular skylight, nothing but planets, stars, and nebulae Other than that, there is nothing, and sometimes you can only see the new competitor of the sun, the magic star, which does not flicker at all.Occasionally, the magic star will cover all the stars with its brilliance rivaling the sun.

Ten minutes before artificial night, he would always turn off all cabin lights (even the red emergency light) so that he could fully immerse himself in the dark.It may be a bit late for a long-time space engineer, but he still has experienced the joy of stargazing with the naked eye. Now even if he can only see a small part of the constellation, he can immediately recognize the constellation. Every night that May, as the comet passed within the orbit of Mars, he carefully checked the comet's position in the constellation chart.Although he can easily find it in the sky with powerful binoculars, he stubbornly refuses to use this artificial aid. He is playing a little game to see how well his "old" eyes can Can it stand up to this challenge.Although two astronomers at Mauna Kee had already claimed that they could see the star with the naked eye, no one believed their claims, and similar claims by others at Buster Medical Center were more skeptical.

But he is lucky tonight, and the comet is estimated to be around six degrees bright (note: a six-degree star is the dimmest star brightness that can be seen by the human naked eye).He connected the straight line between Gamma and Ibshiro, and then stared at the top corner of the imaginary equilateral triangle, as if he could see through the entire solar system with the thoughts in his heart. right there!Just like when he saw it for the first time seventy-six years ago, it was inconspicuous but absolutely unmistakable!If he hadn't known where to look, it wouldn't have caught his attention at all, and he might have mistaken it for a distant nebula.

To his naked eyes, it was just a tiny, round ball of hazy mist. He tried his best, but still couldn't see any tail.And for months the small fleets that had been detecting the comet had clearly recorded the first bright tails of flames sweeping across the sky from the comet's surface. Like others, Dr. Fo also saw the cool and dark (wrong, it should be said to be completely black) transition of the comet's nucleus as it entered the inner solar system.After seventy years of extreme cold, the mixture of water, ammonia, and other ice masses began to thaw and foam; a "flying mountain" (referring to Halley's Comet) about the shape and size of Manhattan in the United States fell every fifty-three hours. A cosmic bubble will be produced; due to the influence of the high temperature of the sun, the dust on the surface of Halley will be discharged, and the gas will evaporate one by one. This is the reason why the Halley tube star will be like a leaky steam pot; It spouts water vapor, and the formed spout is mixed with mud and organic matter in the magic cauldron when witches practice. The largest spout is about the size of a football field, and it will be sprayed regularly for two hours after sunrise in the place. It looked like a natural fountain in Yellowstone Park, and soon it was named "Old Faithful Servant". (Translation: This is the most famous underground hot gas fountain in Yellowstone Park. It sprays for a certain period of time and is foolproof.)

Dr. Buddha had fantasized about stepping up to the edge of that vent, waiting for the sun to rise out of the darkness to catch a glimpse of the twisted landscape he knew so well from space.In fact, the contract does not mention that any passengers (other than flight crew and scientific personnel) will be able to step out of the capsule when the spacecraft lands on Halley's Comet. On the other hand, there is nothing in the contract that prohibits passengers from doing so. It's going to take some work to stop me, Doctor Buddha thought, I'm sure I can still wear a space suit, unless I'm wrong...

He remembers reading a motto once, from a visitor to the Taj Mahal in India: "Seeing is enough to die." He felt exactly that about Halley's Comet.