A Family Tradition in the Sky

Ralph’s grandfather Jack had long been his hero. More than anything else, he liked to hear of his grandfather’s research when he was at university. Before he retired, Jack had been a high school science teacher, and his area of greatest interest had been astronomy. It still was. His literally stellar research essay that had earned him his Bachelor of Science and the enduring respect of his professors at university, had been on the subject of astronomy, with an emphasis on comets. Grandfather Jack had a special relationship with Halley’s Comet, having seen it when he was 10 years old on March 8, 1986, and had taken its picture, now posted on the front door of his house, for all his neighbours and passers by to see. 

As an undergraduate, grandfather Jack had wanted to proceed to a Master’s degree and a PhD, after he had graduated with a Bachelor of Science. His professors had encouraged him to further his education as he showed great potential as a researcher. However, he had married at age 20, and his wife Hazel had given birth to twins the year that he graduated, one of which would eventually be Ralph’s mother. Jack could not afford more schooling, as he had a family to support, but he did have sufficient academic credentials to earn him a job as a teacher at the local high school.

Ralph loved to hear his grandfather talk about Halley’s Comet, how it influenced his career choice, from when he was Ralph’s age, a tradition that he very much wanted to extend to himself. Grandfather Jack has been influenced as well by his grandfather George, who had told him stories about when he had seen the comet himself, as George’s grandfather had as well. It had become a family tradition many generations deep. There was a long-told family story that one of their ancestors had actually known Edmond Halley himself, the man who had formally identified the repeat visitation of the comet in 1705. Not everyone in the family believed that this story was true, more wishful history, but young boys and girls in the family usually did, some maintaining that belief into their adulthood. Grandfather Jack was not sure of its truth, but he never got around to doing historical research of that kind. It wasn’t science.

The Next Appearance of Halley’s Comet

The year is 2061, a year in which the repeat appearance of the comet had been reliably predicted, and very much anticipated. Grandfather Jack (now 83) and grandson Ralph (who had recently had his 10^th birthday, had made plans to see it through a very sophisticated viewing and recording telescope in grandfather Jack’s backyard. It was as tall as the old pine that stood not far away from it. Ralph’s parents did not usually like having their son stay up late, particularly on the school night upon which the comet was going to be seen in the sky.  But this viewing was a family tradition, so they let him do it “just this once.” Of course they would have no say concerning his potential viewing the comet as an old man.

The return of Halley’s Comet was featured in all the media on earth. Some months ago, there had been a significant number of spacecraft shot from earth to get the closest view of the comet ever achieved.  It was a point of great competition between the bigger spacecraft conglomerates.  It was fortunate that there were no humans on board these vehicles. For two of the spacecrafts had actually collided with each other, destroying both of them in a heartbeat, or whatever the mechanical version of that would be. The AI pilots would detect enough to know they were doomed when the crash moment was seconds away.

Grandfather Jack and grandson Ralph waited and waited, knowing that the comet would come, but still impatient concerning its eventual arrival. Then they saw it. There was some concern, as there seemed to be something strange about the way it looked. Somehow it had taken a shape, and distribution of light that was definitely different from what both of them had expected. Then within an hour the light swelled around itself in a circle, followed by the centre of the light suddenly disappearing completely, like it had been swallowed up by the distant sky. It was evident to the two of them that the comet had exploded, that it existed no more. They were both in shock. How could this happen after so many centuries of existence and travelling along the same space path? Then Ralph expressed his belief that it must have been caused by the large number of spacecraft that were in or near the path of the comet, interfering with its flight in some way. Grandfather Jack agreed, condemning the companies that had sent up their spacecraft with the main selfish goal of being able to say that their craft had come the closest to the comet, and thereby would have the very best pictures for people to pay to see.

Ralph’s Future

Grandfather Jack died in his late 80s, only three years after the demise of Halley’s Comet. It was the saddest day of Ralph’s young life. Fortunately, his grandfather had willed his telescope and its comet pictures to his grandson. Ralph went on to have the career that his grandfather had very much wanted many years before. He became a professor at a university with astronomy, particularly comets becoming his research speciality. His greatest triumph was writing what would be called the definitive book on Halley’s Comet, complete with suggestions why it had exploded, blaming devices sent deep into the skies by selfish corporations. The most difficult aspect of his research for the book was trying to find out whether or not an ancestor of his had known Halley himself. Eventually, with the help of a colleague who taught British history, he learned that one of his ancestors had lived in the same town in 1705 as did the famous scientist, so it was at least a possibility that the old family story was true. Ralph wrote that he was sure that it was. The rest of his research was more solid than that. 

Eventually the year came when Ralph himself had become a grandfather. His grandson was as charmed by his grandfather’s stories as Ralph had been many years before by his. This was particularly true when the boy was told the story of 2061 while he was viewing the last moments of Halley’s Comet.