A Novice Observer's Guide to Comet ISON

If you enjoy a dramatic spectacle in the sky, you have probably heard about Comet ISON, currently streaking toward the sun. (If you haven't heard about it, bear with me--I'll try to make it worth your while.) But the media coverage has been downright confusing. The first reports described it as a "comet of the century," possibly as bright as the full moon. Then came some whipsaw downbeat news stories suggesting that the comet was fizzling and might have already begun to disintegrate. No wo