The Comets of 1957

1957 was quite a year!

I had started school in the fall of 1956, and learned to read - at least a little bit. Grandpa Wheeler had a whole 20 volume set of The Book of Knowledge that I thought were just the neatest books ever. They were written for kids, and although I was a bit young for them, they were still exciting. I loved to sneak off to Grandma and Grandpa's house and look at the books. My favourite articles were those about astronomy.

Grandpa told me about Halley's comet which had been visible last in 1910 when he was a young man. At that time, there was widespread hysteria at the time about what would happen if the comet hit the earth (or the earth hit the comet). There was even talk about the poison gas in the comet's tail that would wipe out life on earth if the earth passed through the comet's tail. Grandpa told me about this and it was quite a bunch of stuff to put into a seven year old's head!

I remember that Joe and I played with David and Val Brady in the hollow down by the old milk house. We'd play cowboys and indians; we'd play army; sometime's we'd play rocketships going to the moon or to Mars and fighting aliens. Most often there was at least a hint of violence and/or death in our play.

In the spring of the year, comet Arend-Roland caught everyone's attention. I don't remember the name, and I don't remember actually seeing the comet, but I do remember the excitement. It faded from view and was gone by June (according to Time magazine).

Then in early August, comet Myrkos became visible. It likewise caused a bunch of excitement. Two very visible comets in one year must have been something! The news reports (I just looked them up!) called it sepctactular. Here again, I don't remember seeing the comet, but I do remember the buzz around it. There was quite a buzz about comets.

Another factor in the growing unease in my mind was the cold war. As a seven year old I didn't understand much about war, but with the talk by the grown-ups and the news reports, it became one more factor that was in my mind and in the air.

While the USSR had not yet launched the first Sputnik, there was quite an October Sky mentality everywhere. I probably picked up on that as well.

It all came to a head the night Little Walt and Bobby got married. David and I were allowed to take the presents from the guests to the tables where they were being displayed. I was really excited because this meant that I was trusted to help. I remember that as some people came to the Union First Ward building in the August twilight, they were talking about the comet that was to be visible later that evening.

After the wedding, Mom and Dad and I came home. I had been up late, so it was clearly time to go to bed. I didn't want to go to bed. After a while, Dad and Mom found out what was bothering me. I was frightened that the earth was going to be destroyed because the comet was going to crash into it!

(As an adult, I understand just how remote that possibility is. Even with the talk today about asteroids hitting the earth, there isn't much talk about the whole earth coming apart. Yes, the predictions are that many species of life would become extinct. It wouldn't be fun. But my anxiety then was about the earth being destroyed, not about species becoming extinct.)

Mom and Dad sat with me around the kitchen table. They got down the Compton's Encyclopedia that Mom had gotten from Grandpa Wheeler. We looked at the atlas which had a color schematic of the solor system. They talked with me about what would happen if a comet smashed into the earth.

I actually don't remember what Dad and Mom said to me that night! I can see the three of us around the kitchen table. I can see us looking at the atlas. I can see myself going off to bed.

I slept well that night and for many nights afterwards.