Anybody remember Kohoutek? Exactly. If I were a comet, my strategy would be to underpromise and overdeliver. That's the best way to rally a comet's soothsayer base.
Yes, I do. I do also remember Halley's comet. Or, rather, I do remember standing on a winter beach around the time of the predicted maximum with a clear view of the southern sky without light pollution and seeing exactly nothing but stars. (Being at 54 degrees north probably didn't help, either).
If you talk about this approach, the first commet that comes to mind is Hamner-Brown. (Yeah, it's fictional. Still, it's the archetype of that strategy :)
Ha! I remember that book. I memorized several end-of-the-world survival strategies from it. Like "you can drive a jeep on railroad tracks" and "when packing for the apocalypse, don't forget liquor."
I remember it well. I drove up to Bluff Mountain tower (TN) with a couple of friends on a clear summer night. From up there it was a spectacular sight. It was much more beautiful than Hale-Bopp which I saw from Bear Mountain (NY). The only problem - and it was a big one - was that you couldn't really see Kohoutek unless you were up high where Hale-Bopp could be seen from light polluted suburbs.