IS NEOWISE A COMET OF DOOM? OR A SIGN OF NEW OPPORTUNITIES? IT IS UP TO US TO SHAPE OUR DESTINY

COMETS have always intrigued, awed and frightened people ... often being viewed as a portent of doom ... and a bright new comet has appeared in the nighttime skies during the Corona Virus pandemic of 2020.

But those of us who study ancient astrology are aware that comets traditionally do not predict only bad news.

They can also portend good news. 

The ancient Romans saw comets as harbingers of enormously important events ... both bad and good. Comets were bearers of omens or messages from the gods.

One particular comet, nowadays known as Sidus Iulium or Julian Star, the Star of Caesar, was so significant that it influenced the course of history.

After the assassination of Julius Caesar in March 44 BC,
a grand funerary festival called Ludi Victoriae Caesaris was organized in his honor. During the festival, a very bright object appeared in the sky and transfixed the people of Rome.

Since Caesar had claimed that he was a descendant of the goddess Venus, many Romans concluded that Caesar had become a deity and that the bright object was actually a new star containing Caesar's soul. 

More than 100 years later, famous Roman historian Suetonius wrote, "A star shone for seven successive days, rising about the eleventh hour, and was believed to be the soul of Caesar."

Thus, comets have always been considered harbingers of great change. Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) was discovered on March 27, 2020 ... ironically, coinciding with the greatest pandemic in modern history ... plunging the world into economic chaos and changing the lives of billions of people.

Many modern astrologers view comets as celestial vacuum cleaners which move slowly across the sky, sucking up astral energies in order to cleanse the human spirit in preparation of a major turning point. 

But whether the turning point will be beneficial or destructive is unclear.

Clearly, we are at a major historical turning point now ... and whether it will be wholly disastrous or for a new, more constructive course in human history ... that remains up to us humans on Earth to determine for ourselves.

Comet NEOWISE will be closest to Earth on July 22-23, 2020. It will pass at some 64 million miles (103 million km) from our planet. The good news is that ... if the comet continues looking great ... the view during the night of closest approach should be nice for many of you at temperate latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. 

Although binoculars are required for the celestial visitor, it will be visible at the same time we see a beautiful crescent (not too bright) moon.

The answer is that the comet is now very far to the north on the sky's dome. The comet is very nearly but not quite circumpolar, that is, it is nearly in the sky continually, but it isn't quite … that is why those of you at southerly latitudes will have a harder time spotting it in the evening.

The farther north you are (latitudes like those in Northern Europe, Canada and the northern U.S.) the more opportunities to see the comet you will have, since the celestial visitor will appear circumpolar. That is, it will be in the part of the sky that circles around the north pole star, above our horizon at all times.

If the comet remains at its current brightness, it might be even easier to spot in the evening during the second half of July than it has been in the morning sky so far. The comet will be gradually higher each night, just below the Big Dipper.

Comet NEOWISE orbit path takes 10,127 years. That is significant.

Its closest approach to Earth will occur July 23, 2020, at a distance of 0.69 AU (103 million km). This perihelion passage will increase the comet’s orbital period from about 4,500 years to about 6,800 years.

Comet NEOWISE might be visible again from Earth, but not until around the year 8786!