Page 22 - Tales the Maggid Never Told Me

Comet Klenzer

Klenzer smiled, revealing capped teeth. “Did you find out why I
had to leave the university?”
“Well, I suppose it’s in the report somewhere. I know you
were caught with your mitt in the wringer—hanky-panky with a
co-ed or embezzlement of college funds.”
“Not at all. That would be more typical of your colleagues
than mine.” Klenzer leaned forward. Illumination from an ornate
desk lamp picked up copper highlights in his immaculately-lacquered
coiffure and glinted off his diamond cufflinks. Altogether less
prepossessing an Old Testament prophet than his adversary, Brother
Daniel nevertheless radiated intellectual honesty and calm seriousness
of purpose.
“It is no secret that Daniel Klenzer discovered a comet soon
before it crossed the orbit of Saturn, about seven years ago. I
was assisted by some rather clumsy graduate students, to whom I
entrusted most of the photographic and mathematical routine.
That was a big mistake. Many comets are identified every year;
most of them are not large enough to see without a telescope,
and they do not capture the public’s attention. They come and
go in totally predictable elliptical orbits with the sun as a focus. Their
nuclei are primarily frozen gases, their tails and comas visible only
when they are within a certain range of the sun. If you observe a
comet’s movement over a brief span of time, you can calculate
precisely where and when it will cross the ecliptic plane—that is, the
plane described by the earth’s orbit—for the next million years.”
“All well and good, and no big deal for a struggling young
academic; my attention was primarily on teaching and publishing
research in my chosen field of study, the asteroid belt beyond
Mars. The comet was documented and registered. Its orbit would
bring it nowhere near the earth or any other massive body in our
solar system. I forgot about it until a few weeks later when I was
scanning some plates I had taken through the university’s
telescope of the asteroids. There I saw a departing comet
glowing faintly against the background of fixed stars. After
consulting the charts, I realized it had to be my comet, heading
for the outer reaches of solar influence, a visitor not expected
again for fifty-three years. The next day I spotted it again, and as

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