Comet Kohoutek

Comet Kohoutek was first sighted on March 7, 1973 by Czech astronomer Lubos Kohoutek. It attained perihelion on December 26, 1973.

Kohoutek was hyped by the media as the "comet of the century", but gave a poor display and was considered a letdown, leading some to nickname it "Comet Watergate".

The band R.E.M wrote a song about the comet, "Kohoutek", which appeared on the 1985 album Fables of the Reconstruction.