Introduction: Setting the scene for C/2012 S1 (ISON) and incoming comets -- What is a comet and where do they come from? (Primordial leftovers, Oort Cloud, etc) -- Portents of change and doom (historical perspectives on comets, myths and superstitions, end of world predictions, hyperbole) -- Great comets (including Halley’s Comet, Ikeya-Seki, IRAS-Araki-Alcock, Hyakutake, Hale-Bopp, McNaught, etc) -- Comets up close observations by space probes (VeGa, Giotto, ICE, Deep Impact, etc) -- C/2012 S1 and selected bright comets of the future (discovery, magnitude predictions, paths through Solar System).

A special celestial event climaxes towards the end of 2013, the arrival, fresh from the Oort Cloud, of Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON). By all predictions, this comet was set to be one of the most dazzling comets seen in modern history.   Sky watchers will have already been primed for C/2012 (ISON) earlier in 2013 with the apparition of another naked-eye comet, C/2011 L4 (PanSTARRS), and following C/2012 S1 (ISON) there is the prospect of 2012 K1 (PanSTARRS) reaching naked-eye visibility in August 2014. And there will be other bright cometary prospects in the near future, if we take into account the latest predictions.   This book sets the scene for the arrival of Comet C/2012 S1 and those comets following it over the next few years. It explains how sky watchers and amateur astronomers can practically follow comets, observe them, and record them. This is also a guide on how to keep abreast of the latest cometary discoveries and how to use publications, websites, programs, and apps to visualize and plan observations. The book includes:   ·    descriptions of the nature, origins and observing history of comets ·    a detailed guide to seeing and studying what could be the greatest comet of modern times ·    specially prepared maps covering bright cometary apparitions of the next few years. ·    Illustrations of recent naked-eye comets and space probe images of large comets.