Comet Morehouse, very bright comet in a retrograde near-parabolic orbit, remarkable for variations in the form and structure of its ion, or plasma, tail. It was named after American astronomer Daniel Walter Morehouse and was observed from September 1908 to May 1909. On several occasions the ion

Encke’s Comet, faint comet having the shortest orbital period (about 3.3 years) of any known; it was also only the second comet (after Halley’s) to have its period established. The comet was first observed in 1786 by French astronomer Pierre Méchain. In 1819 German astronomer Johann Franz Encke

Halley’s Comet, the first comet whose return was predicted and, almost three centuries later, the first to be imaged up close by interplanetary spacecraft. In 1705 English astronomer Edmond Halley published the first catalog of the orbits of 24 comets. His calculations showed that comets observed

Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 1, short-period comet discovered photographically by the German astronomers Friedrich Karl Arnold Schwassmann and Arno Arthur Wachmann on November 15, 1927. It has one of the most circular orbits of any comet known (eccentricity = 0.044) and remains always between the

Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 1, short-period comet discovered photographically by the German astronomers Friedrich Karl Arnold Schwassmann and Arno Arthur Wachmann on November 15, 1927. It has one of the most circular orbits of any comet known (eccentricity = 0.044) and remains always between the

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, comet whose disrupted nucleus crashed into Jupiter over the period of July 16–22, 1994. The cataclysmic event, the first collision between two solar system bodies ever predicted and observed, was monitored from Earth-based telescopes worldwide, the Hubble Space Telescope and

comet: Tails: In 1951 German astronomer Ludwig Biermann studied the tails of comets and showed that the ion tails flowed away from the Sun at speeds in excess of 400 km (250 miles) per second. He suggested that the phenomenon had to be associated with some…

comet: Spacecraft exploration of comets: …spacecraft that would fly by Comet 9P/Tempel 1 and a daughter spacecraft that would be deliberately crashed into the comet nucleus. The mother spacecraft would take images of the impact. The daughter spacecraft contained its own camera system to image the nucleus surface up to the moment of impact. To…

meteor shower: …period of its associated comet, Tempel-Tuttle), and occasional records of its appearances have been traced back to about ad 902. Since about 1945, radar observations have revealed meteor showers regularly occurring in the daylight sky, where they are invisible to the eye.

comet: Cometary nuclei: Telescopic observations from Earth and spacecraft missions to comets have revealed much about their nuclei. Cometary nuclei are small solid bodies, typically only a few kilometres in diameter and composed of roughly equal parts of volatile ices, fine silicate dust, and

comet: Cometary nuclei: …may be one source of cometary outbursts—sharp increases in cometary activity that appear to occur randomly. It can likely explain the unusual brightness of dynamically new comets as they approach the Sun for the first time. New comets likely experience the amorphous-to-crystalline ice phase transition at between 5 and 7…

James Comey: Memoir and later activities: …the basis for the miniseries The Comey Rule (2020), with Jeff Daniels in the lead role. Comey later wrote Saving Justice: Truth, Transparency, and Trust (2021).

James Comey is a U.S. attorney and law enforcement official who served as director (2013–17) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Comey came from an Irish American family. His paternal grandfather was a police officer, and his father worked in commercial real estate. Comey grew up in

James Comey is a U.S. attorney and law enforcement official who served as director (2013–17) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Comey came from an Irish American family. His paternal grandfather was a police officer, and his father worked in commercial real estate. Comey grew up in

climate classification: Empirical classifications: Terjung’s 1966 scheme was an attempt to group climates on the basis of their effects on human comfort. The classification makes use of four physiologically relevant parameters: temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation. The first two are combined in a comfort index to…

Ian McEwan: The Comfort of Strangers (1981; film 1990) is a nightmarish novel about an English couple in Venice.

comfort women, a euphemism for women who provided sexual services to Japanese Imperial Army troops during Japan’s militaristic period that ended with World War II and who generally lived under conditions of sexual slavery. Estimates of the number of women involved typically range up to 200,000, but

Alex Comfort was an English gerontologist and author, best known for his books on sexual behaviour. Comfort was educated at the University of Cambridge (B.A., 1943; M.A., 1945) and the University of London (Ph.D., 1949) and qualified in medicine at the Royal College of Physicians and London

Alex Comfort was an English gerontologist and author, best known for his books on sexual behaviour. Comfort was educated at the University of Cambridge (B.A., 1943; M.A., 1945) and the University of London (Ph.D., 1949) and qualified in medicine at the Royal College of Physicians and London

Muriel Spark: With the publication of The Comforters (1957), however, her talent as a novelist—an ability to create disturbing, compelling characters and a disquieting sense of moral ambiguity—was immediately evident. Her third novel, Memento Mori (1959), was adapted for the stage in 1964 and for television in 1992. Her best-known novel…

Zamia: …of certain species, among them coontie, or comfortroot (Zamia integrifolia), found in the southeastern United States and the West Indies. Several species, notably the cardboard palm (Z. furfuracea), are cultivated as ornamentals. Many Zamia species are listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as endangered or critically endangered.

Everything That Rises Must Converge: Similarly, “The Comforts of Home” is about a self-styled intellectual who lives with his mother. Driven by the voice of his dead father, the son accidentally kills his sentimental mother instead of the petty criminal and self-confessed nymphomaniac the mother has taken in.

comfrey, any herb plant of the Eurasian genus Symphytum, of the family Boraginaceae, especially the medicinal common comfrey (S. officinale), used to treat wounds and a source of a gum for treatment of wool. The coiled sprays of comfrey blooms, which are bell-like, deeply parted, five-lobed, and

Green Party, political party founded in 1981 to promote an environmental agenda in the Republic of Ireland. The Ecology Party of Ireland, the forerunner of the current Green Party, was formed in December 1981 in Dublin with about 40 members. A convention in March 1982 established the party’s basic

comic book, bound collection of comic strips, usually in chronological sequence, typically telling a single story or a series of different stories. The first true comic books were marketed in 1933 as giveaway advertising premiums. By 1935 reprints of newspaper strips and books with original stories

comic opera, general designation for musical plays with light subject matter and happy endings. The dialogue is usually spoken, rather than sung. In addition to operetta and musical comedy, types of comic opera include Italian opera buffa (which has sung dialogue), German Singspiel, English ballad

Alan Ayckbourn: Friends (1991), Communicating Doors (1995), Comic Potential (1999), The Boy Who Fell into a Book (2000), and the trilogy Damsels in Distress (2002). In 2002 he published a work of advice and instruction for aspiring playwrights and directors, The Crafty Art of Playmaking.

Billy Crystal: …year he also cohosted the Comic Relief comedy fund-raiser with Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg. The trio would go on to host some 10 televised Comic Relief events over two decades.

dramatic literature: Common elements of drama: …exquisite balance of pathos with comedy in order to ensure the affective function of their plays.

novelty song: …as novelties have usually been comic songs, in a tradition that goes back to British music hall hits such as “Laughing Policeman.” Comic records, such as Bill Buchanan and Dickie Goodman’s “The Flying Saucer” (1956) and Sheb Wooley’s “Purple People Eater” (1958), sold particularly well in the 1950s. Comedians such…

comic strip, series of adjacent drawn images, usually arranged horizontally, that are designed to be read as a narrative or a chronological sequence. The story is usually original in this form. Words may be introduced within or near each image, or they may be dispensed with altogether. If words

Rik Mayall: Career and personal life: …the satiric television movie series The Comic Strip Presents (1982–2016), with episodes featuring players from The Comic Strip performing in 30-minute short films that parodied tales from other films, literature, and popular culture.

Italian literature: Comic verse: Poesia giocoso (realistic, or comic, verse) was a complete contrast to serious love poetry. The language was often deliberately unrefined, colloquial, and sometimes scurrilous, in keeping with the themes dealt with in the poetry. This kind of verse belongs to an ongoing European…

Carl Reiner: Film directing: …worked with Van Dyke on The Comic (1969), an intermittently successful homage to the silent-screen comics. Better was Where’s Poppa? (1970), a daring black comedy starring George Segal as a frustrated lawyer and Ruth Gordon as his senile mom. Reiner then returned to television for several years, cocreating and producing…

Sir George Etherege: Etherege’s first comedy, The Comical Revenge; or, Love in a Tub, was premiered at Lincoln’s Inn Fields Theatre in 1664. An immediate success, it was novel in its exploitation of contemporary manners, especially in the intrigue of the stylish Sir Frederick Frollick. It still followed earlier tradition, with…

Comici Confidènti, either of two companies of the Italian commedia dell’arte that were instrumental in extending the reputation of this form of improvised theatre throughout Europe. The first company, which performed in France and Spain as well as in Italy, was formed about 1574 under the

Comilla, city, eastern Bangladesh. It is situated just south of the Gumti River, which is a tributary of the Meghna River. Connected by road and rail with Dhaka and Chittagong, Comilla has been a centre for the collection of hides and skins; it also has jute and cotton mills as well as a thermal

Comilla: …most notable of which is Comilla Victoria University College (1899).

Comilla: …most notable of which is Comilla Victoria University College (1899).

Jim Pepper: On Comin’ and Goin’ (1983) Pepper revisited and reworked material from Pepper’s Pow Wow with various collaborators, including jazz trumpeter Don Cherry and multi-instrumentalist and world music artist Collin Walcott. On his final two albums, Dakota Song (1987) and The Path (1988), Pepper juxtaposed his interpretations…

Philippe de Commynes was a statesman and chronicler whose Mémoires establish him as one of the greatest historians of the Middle Ages. Commynes was the son of a knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece and was the godson of Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy. He was brought up at the Burgundian

Cominform, agency of international communism founded under Soviet auspices in 1947 and dissolved by Soviet initiative in 1956. The Communist Information Bureau was founded at Wilcza Góra, Pol., in September 1947, with nine members—the communist parties of the U.S.S.R., Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia,

Arsenio Hall: Television and film career: …later reunited with Murphy for Coming 2 America (2021), the sequel to their similarly named 1988 movie.

Louis Johnson: …a Lizard (1970), Onion (1972), Coming and Going (1982), Winter Apples (1984), and True Confessions of the Last Cannibal (1986). He edited the prose and poetry volume Antipodes New Writing (1987). His Last Poems (1990), The Perfect Symbol: Poems Unpublished and Uncollected (1998), and Selected Poems (2000) were published posthumously.

Carly Simon: …hit with her song “Coming Around Again” (the theme to the 1986 movie Heartburn), and she won a Grammy (for best song written specifically for a motion picture or television; 1990), a Golden Globe Award (1989), and an Academy Award for “Let the River Run,” which she also sang,…

Hal Ashby: The 1970s: Most critics, however, agreed that Coming Home featured powerful performances. In fact, all the principal actors were nominated for Oscars—Jon Voight, Jane Fonda, Penelope Milford, and Bruce Dern, with both Voight and Fonda winning—and Ashby received his only Oscar nomination for best director. Although Coming Home was a difficult act…

Zhang Yimou: Gui lai (2014; Coming Home) featured Gong as a woman whose marriage is destroyed when her husband is imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution. Zhang later codirected Wang chao de nu ren: Yang Guifei (2015; Lady of the Dynasty), about the tragic love affair between concubine Yang Guifei and…

Usher: Here I Stand, Raymond v. Raymond, and Coming Home: …II Love, the highly anticipated Coming Home, featuring collaborations with H.E.R., Latto, Jungkook of BTS, and other music artists. The album’s release coincided with his performance in the halftime show at that year’s Super Bowl in February.

Wayne Wang: Career: …Women Are Sleeping (2016), and Coming Home Again (2019).

Anne Moody: …where she began to write Coming of Age in Mississippi. Published in 1968, the book provides an eloquent and poignant account of Moody’s impoverished childhood, her struggle against the pervasive racism of the Deep South, and her work as a civil rights activist. It received high praise as both a…

Margaret Mead: Work and impact: …first of her 23 books, Coming of Age in Samoa (1928), a perennial best seller and a characteristic example of her reliance on qualitative rather than quantitative methods. The book clearly indicates her belief in cultural determinism, the theory that human behavior is determined by culture rather than biology. This…

Guo Xi: …and a hand scroll entitled The Coming of Autumn. Both effectively capture the quality of their seasonal interests and are paramount examples of the Song accomplishment, which balanced pictorial description with expressive brushstroke to provide, as Guo himself wrote, landscapes in which one may physically and mentally ramble.

postindustrial society: … in 1973 in his book The Coming of Post-Industrial Society: A Venture in Social Forecasting, which describes several features of a postindustrial society. Postindustrial societies are characterized by:

José Clemente Orozco: Mature work and later years: …correlated to two main scenes, The Coming of Quetzalcoatl and The Return of Quetzalcoatl. This dichotomy contrasted the stages of human progression from a primeval, non-Christian paradise to a Christian, capitalist hell. Byzantine mosaics also clearly influenced the pictorial style of Modern Migration of the Spirit, but such scenes as…

Canadian literature: Fiction: Vancouver, and Michael Ondaatje’s Coming Through Slaughter (1976), the story of the jazz musician Buddy Bolden, mingle history with autobiography in self-reflexive narratives that enact the process of writing. Ranging from 1920s Toronto (In the Skin of a Lion, 1987) to Italy during World War II (The English Patient,…

Georges Lefebvre: …Napoléon (1935) and Quatre-vingt-neuf (1939; The Coming of the French Revolution), which was written for the nonspecialist and is perhaps the best general picture of the ancien régime available in English. Lefebvre’s exhaustive knowledge of the French peasantry of the 18th century was his sure guide in analyzing the society…

John Rechy: …Our Lady of Babylon (1996), The Coming of the Night (1999), The Life and Adventures of Lyle Clemens (2003), After the Blue Hour (2017), and Pablo! (2018). In addition, he published the essay collection Beneath the Skin (2004). About My Life and the Kept Woman (2008) is a memoir.

John Barth: The novel Coming Soon!!! (2001) revisits The Floating Opera and is arguably Barth’s most conspicuously self-conscious work. The Book of Ten Nights and a Night (2004) and The Development (2008) are collections of interconnected short stories. Every Third Thought: A Novel in Five Seasons (2011) features a…

Michael Ondaatje: Prose works: …known than his poetry, include Coming Through Slaughter (1976), a novel about the descent into insanity of the New Orleans jazz musician Buddy Bolden; Running in the Family (1982), his memoirs about life in Ceylon; and In the Skin of a Lion (1987), a novel about the clash between rich…

Chris Cooper: Salinger in Coming Through the Rye (2015).

Paula Abdul: Choreography: …with Private School (1983) and Coming to America (1988) and later working on such popular hits as Jerry Maguire (1996), American Beauty (1999), and Black Knight (2001). In 1989 she earned an Emmy Award for her choreography on The Tracey Ullman Show.

George Orwell: From The Road to Wigan Pier to World War II: …paradoxically conservative strain in writing Coming Up for Air (1939), in which he uses the nostalgic recollections of a middle-aged man to examine the decency of a past England and express his fears about a future threatened by war and fascism. When World War II did come, Orwell was rejected…

feast: Crucial stages of life: Puberty, the transition into adulthood, has been celebrated since ancient times by various rituals and festivals. In the secular sphere, it is celebrated in democratic countries by the granting of the right to vote to persons upon the attainment of a certain age. In ancient…

Citizen Kane: Cast:

Albert Goldbarth: collections included Coprolites (1973), Comings Back (1976), Different Fleshes (1979), Ink, Blood, Semen (1980), Who Gathered and Whispered Behind Me (1981), Arts & Sciences (1986), Popular Culture (1990), The Gods (1993), Adventures in Ancient

Comino, one of the Maltese islands, in the Mediterranean Sea, separated from Malta to the southeast and Gozo to the northwest by narrow channels. It has an area of 1 square mile (3 square km). Comino boasts three popular beaches—St. Nicholas Bay, St. Mary’s Bay, and the sought-after Blue Lagoon

cumin, (Cuminum cyminum), annual plant of the parsley family (Apiaceae) and the spice made of its seedlike fruits. Native to the Mediterranean region, cumin is also cultivated in India, China, and Mexico and is used to flavor a variety of foods. Taxonomy See also list of plants in the family

Mauritania: Resources and power: …in 1974 and was renamed Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière (SNIM). The iron ore deposits of Mount Ijill neared depletion in the late 1980s, and production there came to a halt in the early 1990s. Exploitation of reserves at Guelb El Rheïn began in 1984; the site soon grew unprofitable,…

Third International, association of national communist parties founded in 1919. Though its stated purpose was the promotion of world revolution, the Comintern functioned chiefly as an organ of Soviet control over the international communist movement. The Comintern emerged from the three-way split

Spain: Labour and taxation: …and the Workers’ Commissions (Confederación Sindical de Comisiones Obreras; CC.OO.), which is affiliated with the Communist Party and is also structured by sectional and territorial divisions. Other unions include the Workers’ Syndical Union (Unión Sindical Obrera; USO), which has a strong Roman Catholic orientation; the Independent Syndicate of Civil…

Disco Demolition Night: From gimmick to riot: …Sox’s storied home stadium of Comiskey Park, located on the South Side of Chicago. Some 50,000 fans attended the event, while thousands more gathered outside the stadium after its capacity of about 45,000 seats was breached. As promised, a giant crate filled with donated disco records was blown up with…

Charles Comiskey was a baseball player, manager and owner during the formative years of professional baseball, and one of the founders of the American League. Comiskey began playing semiprofessional baseball in 1876 and in 1882 joined the St. Louis Brown Stockings (later known as the Browns) in the

Charles Comiskey was a baseball player, manager and owner during the formative years of professional baseball, and one of the founders of the American League. Comiskey began playing semiprofessional baseball in 1876 and in 1882 joined the St. Louis Brown Stockings (later known as the Browns) in the

Comiso, town, southeastern Sicily, Italy, at the foot of the Iblei Mountains just west of Ragusa city. The white limestone of the district has been used in numerous local churches. There is a castle of the Naselli, from which the family tomb was transferred in 1517 to the 13th-century church of San

Giovanni Comisso was an Italian author of letters and of lyric and autobiographical novels. Comisso earned a law degree at the University of Siena but never worked as a lawyer. He served in World War I, then lived in Fiume, Italy (now Rijeka, Croatia), with Gabriele D’Annunzio, operated a bookstore

Comitán, city, east-central Chiapas estado (state), southeastern Mexico. It was formerly known as Comitán de las Flores because of its profusion of tropical flowers. The city lies at 5,020 feet (1,530 metres) above sea level on the central plateau of Chiapas and east-southeast of Tuxtla Gutiérrez,

Comitán, city, east-central Chiapas estado (state), southeastern Mexico. It was formerly known as Comitán de las Flores because of its profusion of tropical flowers. The city lies at 5,020 feet (1,530 metres) above sea level on the central plateau of Chiapas and east-southeast of Tuxtla Gutiérrez,

North Africa: Later Roman Empire: …Constantine, the field army (comitatenses) in Africa, numbering on paper some 21,000 men, was put under a new commander, the comes Africae, independent of the provincial governors. Only the governors of Tripolitania and of Mauretania Caesariensis also had troops at their disposal, but these were second-line soldiers, or limitanei.…

comitatus, (Latin: “retinue”), in ancient Republican Rome, an elite company of one of the army commanders. A comitatus was formed in the assembly when one of the leading men announced that he needed followers to accompany him on a foray into enemy territory. Those who were attracted by the

Comtat-Venaissin, former province of France and papal enclave, bounded on the north and northeast by Dauphiné, on the south by the Durance River, on the east by Provence, and on the west by the Rhône River. It comprises the present département of Vaucluse. Its capital was Carpentras.

Association Internationale du Congo, association under whose auspices the Congo region (coextensive with present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo) was explored and brought under the ownership of the Belgian king Leopold II and a group of European investors. The Committee for Studies of the

Committee of Public Safety, political body of the French Revolution that gained virtual dictatorial control over France during the Reign of Terror (September 1793 to July 1794). The Committee of Public Safety was set up on April 6, 1793, during one of the crises of the Revolution, when France was

Committee of General Security, organ of the French Revolutionary government. It directed the political police and Revolutionary justice. Founded by the National Convention in 1792, the committee administered the Reign of Terror of 1793–94, along with the Committee of Public Safety. See also

International Committee of the Red Cross , international nongovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, that seeks to aid victims of war and to ensure the observance of humanitarian law by all parties in conflict. The work of the ICRC in both World Wars was recognized by the

International Olympic Committee, organization formed in Paris in 1894 to conduct, promote, and regulate the modern Olympic Games

Burundi: The Third Republic: …a 30-member military junta, the Military Committee for National Salvation.

Free French: …the Comité National Français (French National Committee), a Free French government-in-exile that was recognized by the Allied governments.

National Liberation Front: …FLN was created by the Revolutionary Committee of Unity and Action (Comité Révolutionnaire d’Unité et d’Action [CRUA]), a group of young Algerian militants, organized in March 1954. The CRUA sought to reconcile the warring factions of the nationalist movement and to wage war against the French colonial presence in Algeria.…

Antarctica: The development of IGY: …to become known as the Comité Spécial de l’Année Géophysique Internationale (CSAGI) to coordinate IGY planning. Plans widened to include the scientific study of the whole Earth, and eventually 67 nations showed interest in joining. Plans were laid for simultaneous observations, at all angles, of the Sun, weather, the aurora,…

North Africa: The Vandal conquest: In this situation the comites Africae were increasingly tempted to intrigue for their own advantage. One of them, Bonifacius, is said to have invited the Vandals, who at the time were occupying Andalusia, to his aid, but it is more likely that the Vandals were attracted to Africa by…

comitia, in ancient Republican Rome, a legal assembly of the people. Comitia met on an appropriate site (comitium) and day (comitialis) determined by the auspices (omens). Within each comitia, voting was by group; the majority in each group determined its vote. The powers of Republican Roman

Comitia Centuriata, Ancient Roman military assembly, instituted c. 450 bc. It decided on war and peace, passed laws, elected consuls, praetors, and censors, and considered appeals of capital convictions. Unlike the older patrician Comitia Curiata, it included plebeians as well as patricians,

lictor: The Comitia Curiata (a popular assembly) was summoned by the lictors until the late republic, when the Comitia met less frequently and the 30 divisions of the people, or curiae, delegated 30 lictors as their representatives.

comitia: …assembly became, in effect, the Comitia Plebis Tributa. Its simpler procedures and the availability of tribunes made this comitia an important legislative body of the middle and later periods of Republican Rome. Its judicial functions, however, were basically limited to fines for noncapital offenses.

comitia: The Comitia Populi Tributa was founded around 357 bc in imitation of the Comitia Plebis Tributa, but it differed from the former in that it was an assembly of the whole Roman people, plebeians and patricians, who were organized by tribe. This comitia elected the minor…

democracy: The Roman Republic: …plebeians (common people); and the Comitia Tributa, like the Athenian Assembly, was open to all citizens. In all the assemblies, votes were counted by units (centuries or tribes) rather than by individuals; thus, insofar as a majority prevailed in voting, it would have been a majority of units, not of…

Rome: The Forum of Rome: …to one side was the Comitium, in which the popular assembly met. Nearby lay the orators’ platform, the Rostra, decorated in 338 bce with the iron rams (rostra) taken as trophies from the warships of Antium (now Anzio, Italy).

Art Spiegelman: …present graphic novels and “comix” (comics written for a mature audience) to a wider public. Recognized as the leading avant-garde comix journal of its era, Raw featured strips by European artists as well as previewed Spiegelman’s own work. Beginning in Raw’s second issue (December 1980), Spiegelman resumed the story…

Census of Marine Life, international collaborative research project, undertaken 2000–10, that catalogued the diversity, distribution, and abundance of life in the world’s seas and oceans. The first of its kind, the census involved 17 discrete projects and 2,700 scientists. Their efforts

punctuation: Punctuation in English since 1600: A comma (,) is the “lightest” of the four basic stops. As the most usual means of indicating the syntactic turning points in a sentence, it is exposed to abuse. It may be used to separate the elements of a series, before a relative clause that…