The Question

The Discoverer

Not many men choose their honeymoon site for its clear night skies, nor do they leave their beds in the pre-dawn hours to climb up to the roof of their rented cottage. At least Hal Jacobs’s bride understood his strange passion.

Linda Krauss-Jacobs, like her husband, was an amateur astronomer. In fact, the couple had met at a summer outing of the South Connecticut Astronomical Society. Now, however, she shivered in the moonless dark of the chill New Mexico night as Jacobs wrestled with the small but powerful electronically boosted telescope he was trying to set up on the sloping roof, muttering to himself as he worked in the dark.

“It’ll be dawn soon,” Linda warned.

“Yeah,” said Hal. “Then we get back to bed.”

That thought did not displease Linda. She was not as dedicated an astronomer as her husband. Maybe dedicated isn’t the right word, she thought. Fanatic would be more like it. Still, there were three comets in the solar system that bore the Jacobs name, and he was intent on discovering more, honeymoon or not.

His mutterings and fumblings ceased. Linda knew he had the little telescope working at last.

“Can I see?” she asked.

“Sure,” he said, without looking up from the tiny display screen. “In a min—hey! Look at that!”

Stepping carefully on the rounded roof tiles, he moved over enough so that she could peek over his shoulder at the cold green-tinted screen. A fuzzy blob filled its center.

“There wasn’t anything like that in that location last night,” Jacobs said, his voice trembling slightly.

“Is it a comet?” Linda wondered aloud.

“Got to be,” he said. Then he added, “And a big one, too. Look how bright it is!”