From Wikipedia: Comet Hyakutake is a comet discovered on 31 January 1996 by Yuji Hyakutake, an amateur astronomer from southern Japan. It was dubbed the Great Comet of 1996; its passage was one of the closest cometary approaches of the previous 200 years. Reaching an apparent visual magnitude of zero and spanning nearly 80, Hyakutake appeared very bright in the night sky and was widely seen around the world. The comet temporarily upstaged the much anticipated Comet HaleBopp, which was approaching the inner Solar System at the time.

Hyakutake is a long-period comet that passed perihelion on 1 May 1996. Before its most recent passage through the Solar System, its orbital period was about 17,000 years, but the gravitational perturbation of the giant planets has increased this period to 70,000 years. This is the first comet to have an X-ray emission detected, which is most likely the result of ionised solar wind particles interacting with neutral atoms in the coma of the comet. The Ulysses spacecraft fortuitously crossed the comet’s tail at a distance of more than 500 million km from the nucleus, showing that Hyakutake had the longest tail known for a comet.

Brand:Lang
Blend:75% Virgin Wool, 25%Nylon
Yardage:459yds / 420m
Yarn Weight:1: Fingering/Sock Weight
Gauge:30stitches & 42 rows to 4in x 4in (10cm x 10cm)
Needle Size:2.50mm / US1.5 to 3.50mm / US4
Put Up:100g / 3.5oz ball