THE FREQUENCY OF APPEARANCE OF BRIGHT NAKED EYE COMETS SINCE 1750

It is a typical lament of the astronomers of today that there has been a dearth of bright comets in the 20th century and, particularly in it s latter half. Many go on to point out the large number of very bright comets that were observed in the 18th and 19th century to reinforce t he unfavourable comparison with modem times. Analysis of bright naked eye comet apparitions since 1750 demonstrates that there was a superav it of very bright comets in the second half of the last century. The s econd half of the twentieth century has shown exactly the average of o ne bright naked eye comet per 2.5 years that has been seen over two an d a half centuries. The probable cause of the apparent lack of bright comets is the great increase in light pollution and the shift of popul ation to the big cities. The observed statistics for the appearance of bright comets show no obvious evidence of perturbations of the Kuiper Belt by Planet X.