Drawing, Comet Kohoutek

Pencil on paper drawing of Comet Kohoutek made by Astronaut E. G. Gibson during the Skylab 3 mission. Gibson, the science specialist and pilot for the third manned Skylab visit, is a solar physicist and focused on the astronomical experiments. He took the opportunity to observe the comet visually through different windows in Skylab during the 84-day mission, supplementing electronographic images taken by various Skylab telescopes.

This is one of a suite of drawings; labeled "early observation" it depicts the comet approaching perihelion passage, predicted for December 28th 1973, some ten days before that date. The full suite of over a dozen drawings and renderings was split between the space science collection and the art collection after it was donated by the Aerospace Corporation.