FRANKFURT | Tue Mar 5, 2013 10:24am EST

(Reuters) - A German travel agency is selling tickets for a flight to give 88 astronomy buffs a close-up view of one of two rare comets expected to pass Earth this year.

Eclipse Travel, based in Bonn, has joined charter agency Air Partner and airline Air Berlin to organize flight AB1000 on March 16 as comet Pan-STARRS passes through the solar system, 100 million miles from Earth.

The last comet to dazzle Earth's night-time skies was Comet Hale-Bopp, which visited in 1997. Comet 17P/Holmes made a brief appearance in 2007.

The Boeing 737-700 flight will zig-zag at 11,000 meters (36,089 feet) altitude for the viewing with an Air Berlin spokesman saying only 88 of 144 seats on board filled to ensure all travelers are close to a window.

"If the weather is very good and the air is clear you can certainly see the comet from Earth," Air Berlin's Karsten von dem Hagen, Teamleader Sales Ad Hoc Flights, said in an e-mail to Reuters on Tuesday.

"But at an altitude of 11,000 meters you are most likely above the clouds. The air there is thinner, clearer and cleaner, which enables better observation of the comet."

I hope the comet turns out worthy of all the fanfare. Hale-Bopp was pretty awesome. I would like my daughters to experience something like that. They got to see the ring of fire from the last solar eclipse as we were right in the path.
I think, as far as paying for a plane flight, I'd pass. It will be at it's glory in the dead of winter and the air is pretty crisp and clear up this way. And besides... those airline windows? I think they clean them with those green scotch-brite pads. I hope for the people on the flight, its a new plane with good windows.