earthbound observers, however, viewing conditions
were unfavorable. Despite the difficulty of seeing the
comet from Earth, the comet’s return was extremely
rewarding to scientists. In an excellent display of in-
ternational cooperation, a massive effort was under-
taken to study the comet.
Detailed earthbound observations of Halley’s
comet on its return began in 1982. During 1985, an
international fleet of six spacecraft were launched
toward the comet. The spacecraft were to fly by the
comet and send back immense quantities of data
about its composition and structure, as well as its in-
teraction with the solar wind. The spacecraft in-
cluded the Soviet Vega 1 and 2 probes, Japanese
Suisei and Sakigake probes, European Space Agency
Giotto probe, and the United States’ International
Cometary Explorer (ICE). Additional observations
were made by spacecraft orbiting Earth and Venus.
Returning comet data from all astronomical disci-
plines were coordinated by the International Halley
Watch and archived at the Jet Propulsion Labora-
tory in Pasadena, California.
The six spacecraft encountered Halley’s comet
between March 6 and March 25, 1986. The Vega
and Giotto probes made the closest approaches to
Halley’s comet. Acting as pathfinders, the Vega
probes surveyed the comet first from distances of
over 5,000 miles. Vega data were used to correct
Giotto’s course as it closed to within 375 miles of the
comet on March 14, 1986. Using remote sensing
techniques, Giotto imaged the nucleus of Halley’s
comet. The nucleus was found to be an irregular
potato-shaped body 9 miles long and 5 miles wide
with a density of 0.3 g/cm^3. The nucleus’s surface
was pockmarked by impact craters and covered with
an almost-black crust. The comet was found to be
ejecting three tons of material per second from its
surface. The comet ejecta was 80 percent water, 10
percent carbon monoxide, and 2.5 percent carbon
dioxide, with the remainder made up of ammonia
and methane.
Impact Science’s understanding of comets was
greatly advanced by data obtained from the Halley’s
comet spacecraft flybys. The results of these data
have changed astronomers’ conceptual models of
cometary structure and evolution. Halley’s comet
will next return in 2061 and will offer even less favor-
able viewing conditions than those that existed in
1985-1986.
Further Reading
Brandt, John, Malcolm Niedner, and Jurgen Rahe.
The International Halley Watch Atlas of Large-Scale
Phenomena. Boulder: University of Colorado Press,
1992.
Ottewell, Guy, and Fred Schaaf.Mankind’s Comet.
Greenville, S.C.: Astronomical Workshop, 1985.
Schaaf, Fred.Comet of the Centur y. New York: Coper-
nicus, 1997.
Randall L. MilsteinSee also Astronomy; Science and technology;
Space exploration.Handmaid’s Tale, The
Identification Dystopian novel
Author Margaret Atwood (1939- )
Date Published in 1985
By projecting into the future the conflicting political and
cultural concerns of the troubled 1980’s, Canadian author
Margaret Atwood envisioned a bleak and chilling result:
the America ofThe Handmaid’s Tale.
Set in the late twentieth century in Cambridge, Mas-
sachusetts,The Handmaid’s Tale(1985) portrays a
world in which an extreme fundamentalist Christian
group has overthrown the U.S. government and as-
sassinated its leaders. The new theocratic govern-
ment had rescinded the Constitution and estab-
lished a new nation called the Republic of Gilead. A
theocracy founded upon a literal interpretation of
the Bible, the government of Gilead endorses racial
and religious intolerance: Jews are forced to convert
or emigrate to Israel, and the so-called Children of
Ham (people of African descent) are relocated to
the wilds of North Dakota. At the same time, women
are relegated to rigid social classes—identified by
color-coded habits reminiscent of religious orders—
and their rights are completely eliminated. Abor-
tionists, homosexuals, Quakers, and other religious
dissidents are publicly executed in the name of tradi-
tional values, and their bodies are displayed on the
Wall at Harvard University, which has become the
headquarters of the secret police.
In the novel, the American birthrate has dropped
precipitously because of pollution, pesticides, or
radiation poisoning. As a result, procreation is se-
verely restricted and ritualized. Only men in author-The Eighties in America Handmaid’s Tale, The 439