A university professor and a UA graduate student are hoping comet Hyakutake, one of the brightest comets seen this century, will help them understand some of the mysteries of our solar system.

Lunar and Planetary Laboratory Professor Uwe Fink said comets were formed from the material in the pre-planetary solar nebula and can therefore help scientists determine the originating substances of the solar system.

"Their composition can give us a clue of what the solar system composition was like when it was formed about 4.5 billion years ago," he said.

Fink said he and Michael Hicks, a graduate student in planetary sciences who works with him at the laboratory, are trying to determine the composition of the comet using spectroscopy. This is the process of breaking up light by its spectral colors and charting the emissions on graphs.

Studying these emissions, the comet appears to be made up of cyanide, carbon, water and ammonia, Fink said.

He said he has studied about 50 comets and their compositions. This comet has an estimated 10- to 20- thousand year orbit. He said the comet will travel out to the edge of the solar system and then back.

Hicks said he was drawn to this field because comets are always changing.

"At anytime there are five or more comets in the sky even though they're too dim to see."

Some scientists believe comets seeded life on Earth, he said.

"I think that the last rain of comets on Earth supplied the water that helped form our planet, but not necessarily that they seeded life," Hicks said.

The pair are also calculating the comet's production rate of water vapor.

Knowing the amount of water vapor is important because the evaporation determines the activity of the comet, he said.

The comet is about 4 to 6 miles in diameter, Fink said. Michael Midkiff, deputy director of the Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium, said about 500 people came to view the comet with the telescopes they set up last week on the UA Mall.

The comet will be visible in the west after sunset until about April 25.