Chapter 2, First Sight Summary

As Haley's comet approaches closer, Dr. Haywood Floyd tries to spot it with the naked eye through the windows of the Pasteur Space Center. He knows where the comet is supposed to be, and one night he sees it. The comet tail cannot be detected, but he knows that the fuzzy dot of light is Haley's. Dr. Floyd thinks about Haley's comet, what its surface looks like from space probe photos, and how he dearly wants to step foot on the surface.

Chapter 2, First Sight Analysis

Haywood Floyd reacts to his first sighting of Haley's comet with quite a bit of enthusiasm. He imagines the landscape of the slowly turning nucleus that is made up of ice, other frozen materials and rock. In his mind's eye, he sees the frozen ice bubbling and shooting out from the nucleus in...