Astroka . 2005. 69 s. Bright comets in the night sky are perhaps the most attractive objects not only for an amateur of astronomy, but also for an ordinary everyday person who for a while becomes far from indifferent to what he sees. The history of civilization has preserved for its descendants evidence of how the night sky of the Earth, more than once lit by fires of furry monsters that appeared in different points of the sky, instilling fear and panic among the inhabitants, frightening them with giant tails. The first appearance of the comet, which was recorded in the chronicles, dates back to 2296 BC. e. And this was done by a woman, the wife of Emperor Yao, who had a son, who later became Emperor Ta-Yu and marked the beginning of the Hya dynasty. It was from this moment that Chinese astronomers followed the night sky and only thanks to them, we know about this date. With it begins the countdown of the history of cometary astronomy .. The Chinese not only described comets, but also mapped comets, allowing modern astronomers to identify the brightest of them, trace the evolution of their orbits and obtain other useful information.