Comet Lulin - A Bright Green Cosmic Visitor

by Robert Wilkinson

I've been asked to comment about Comet Lulin, the green comet now streaking through our solar system in apparent backward motion. Historically comets are regarded in astrology as distant wanderers, and while some return every so often, this is the first, and possibly last, time this particular celestial body comes to visit us. So just what could this comet portend?

While they were generally considered "evil" omens by the ancients, we have come to understand that nothing is evil in itself, so our interpretation must be adjusted. Supposedly comets show the end of an era and the beginning of a new one, along with history altering events and personalities.

One such was Halley's Comet, which marked the birth and death of Mark Twain, America's great literary giant and satirist. Comets also marked the births of Theodore Roosevelt and a generation later, his cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt. So I suppose we can forecast that at least one or two important personages will be born around this time period who will alter world events in decades to come.

There has been a lot of scuttlebutt around the web about possible meanings of this comet's visit, and I've even read that someone has confused this galactic wanderer with the planet Nibiru. Some say it's come before, while other sources say this is the first time it's visited our inner Solar system. So what's true, as far as we know?

From the NASA site, we find that this appears to be the first and only time it's visited us and been exposed to intense sunlight. It also states "Surprises are possible," which is fairly obscure in its meaning.

We read it will conjunct Saturn and oppose Uranus over the next week, and may be visible some places away from city lights. From news sources, we are told the best opportunity to view this comet is before dawn, a third of the way up the southern sky. It should be near Saturn and two bright stars, Spica and Regula.

On Feb. 16th, Comet Lulin passes Spica in the constellation Virgo. Spica is a very bright star, and Saturn is fairly prominent, so we have two guideposts we cannot miss. It will be closest to Earth on Monday, February 23, at 10:43 pm EST, and being only a few degrees from Saturn, should be visible in clear skies from Saturn's rising in the East through its culmination on the midheaven.

Discovered by a Chinese teen two years ago, it apparently has many of its original gasses which are usually stripped from comets when they are close to the Sun. This one has not approached the Sun before now, so it's got material it normally wouldn't have. Do we have anything to worry about, given the poisonous gasses involved and its closeness to the Earth? From the NASA site:

Lulin's green color comes from the gases that make up its Jupiter-sized atmosphere. Jets spewing from the comet's nucleus contain cyanogen (CN: a poisonous gas found in many comets) and diatomic carbon (C2). Both substances glow green when illuminated by sunlight in the near-vacuum of space.

In 1910, many people panicked when astronomers revealed Earth would pass through the cyanogen-rich tail of Comet Halley. False alarm: The wispy tail of the comet couldn't penetrate Earth's dense atmosphere; even it if had penetrated, there wasn't enough cyanogen to cause real trouble. Comet Lulin will cause even less trouble than Halley did. At closest approach in late February, Lulin will stop 38 million miles short of Earth, utterly harmless.

Also from the NASA site, an interesting correlation by its discoverer that could shed light on its possible effects:

Ye notes that Comet Lulin is remarkable not only for its rare beauty, but also for its rare manner of discovery. "This is a 'comet of collaboration' between Taiwanese and Chinese astronomers," he says. "The discovery could not have been made without a contribution from both sides of the Strait that separates our countries. Chi Sheng Lin and other members of the Lulin Observatory staff enabled me to get the images I wanted, while I analyzed the data and found the comet."

Perhaps this comet augurs a new collaborative era, where people and groups working together can discover important things they never could have discovered apart. Or even in its apparent backward movement along with stunning beauty, maybe it indicates that we could back into something and when we find others who also have backed into the same thing, we will find complementary understandings.

In the discovery process, one entity got the images, the other got the data, which led to the discovery. This may offer hints as to the influence of this galactic wanderer. In any case, it's interesting to note that the recent Solar Eclipse spoke of the emergence of "new mutations" from Cosmos, and now we welcome a first-time visitor to our Solar System. Some food for thought at the intersection of Fate Street and Free Will Street at a corner of Eternity Boulevard.

© Copyright 2009 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Isabel]

Dear Robert,

It's been a long time that I have not left any comments - although I come and read your articles whenever I can. Too much work is the explanation!

This is surely a very interesting topic, especially as it leaves one with the HOPE that some new forms of cooperation may be possible. Could it be that the fact that the Obama Administration has opened up new dialogues has also something to do with this symbology? And what about the colour (GREEN)? It is supposed to represent true friendship and vitality (like the friendly green we see in Nature, which in fact is linked to the process of clorophile and the production of oxygen, which allows us to breath).

The story of the Haley Comet which presidede Mark Twain's birth and death I knew already. In fact, I had an uncle who was born during a Comet Haley passage in 1910 - and 77 years later (or is it 75?) I was worried that he might die. He did not die, but had a bad fall which provoked a hemorrage in the brain with loss of capacities. He was nevertheless operated and recovered most of it, and lived on to his Uranus return!

It would be interesting to see you write an article about the different cicles. With human lives becoming longer, what used to be lives more or less corresponding to a Uranus cycle are now sometimes becoming longer...

Well, I shall take no more of your time but once again CONGRATULATION for the excelent quality of your site and work and ALL THE BEST to you dear Friend!

Isabel

[Isabel]

Dear Robert,

As I live in Portugal and most of my blogs are in Portuguese, I do not have enough people who will sometimes check my English blog - would you like to go there? The link is http://newsletterfromlisbon.blogspot.com/

Thanks,

Isabel

[Melody]

Dear Robert and everyone

Namaste :)

Wow this article is synchronistically timed ! :)
I was just writing this morning on orphic papers about Lulin ! ( By the way Thank you for including me in your eclectic friends list that was a nice and inspirational surprise :) ).

She's a beautiful comet and so mysterious considering she is traveling along the same
eliptical orbit ( except in the opposite direction ) of the planets in our solar system. Unlike any other comet in our solar system !
A true individual indeed.

She passes by a number of stars that I think will
lend a hand of cooperative key's to her energies and works on our plane of existence.

Though coming up when she conjuncts Saturn in Virgo in opposition of Uranus .. the transiting moon will
be doing a fly by of the same points of the previous solar eclipse. Very cool.

I have been doing alot of work lately with Alex Millers Black Hole's book and Philip Sedgwick's works .. So I was really happy to see you write about Comet Lulin - though you normally don't go out on those limbs on your site :) LOL

Also ... to Isabel ... I checked out your newsletterfromlisbon... Very cool ... keep up the wonderful works ... :)

Cooperative sharing and interactive support to reach heights otherwise unattainable by ourselves .. isn't that the heart of our delicate
little comet Lulin ??:)

Blessings and Namaste to all
Melody Dawn

[Melody]

P.S.

A note on her delicate GREEN color .. I firmly
believe that she resonates, like the diety of
Green Tara, in that her lt. green color represents
not only new growth but life giving renewal -
like flowers that sprout in early spring.

The only thing to remember though .. as
you've said before many times ... and
we should all be mindful of ....

AS THE ROOTS - SO THE FLOWERS !!

Namaste
Melody Dawn

[Pepper]

So interesting. Thank you for this post.

[Isabel]

Hello Melody,

It was so nice to see your comment here about the blog News Letter from Lisbon!

If you have a google account you may even drop your comments there...

Thanks a lot! It means much...

Namasté,

Isabel

[william kalbacher]

It is green - the holiest of colors re: the tabula smargdolrina (or whatever it
was Hermes discovered-the tablet orignating all alchemy
AND it travels backwards!? indicating it is arriving from the future
Also seems to be traveling within a degree or two of the ecliptic!
Hmmmmmmmmm.

[Robert]

Hi Isabel - Quite all right just to drop in whenever you can! If this comet "means" anything, I agree that it could justify a little hope for cooperation in our very fragmented world. Green is also the color of Nature Herself, and therefore life itself. Definitely will consider doing a post on the cycles of life, though that's actually the subject of a book I need to write. And thanks for your praise of the work. Your own blog has very beautiful pictures and is elegantly done. Bravo! I've put a link to your site on the right hand side.

Hi Melody - Sure. We're all one big global community. I hope this comet is a harbinger of better cooperative efforts to come, even if we must "back into" them. As for going out on limbs, remember I was the first to write a book on the blessings and positives of Mercury RX, and coined the term "Grand Irrationality" to explain what no one else had. There are other ways this Aries has been the first to do or state something, which usually involved going out on a limb or two. Great insight about the Green Tara. And then there's the Green Medicine Buddha....

Hi Pepper - You're most welcome.

Hi William - Yes, the venerable "Emerald Tablets" of Thoth are truly one of the holiest works of antiquity. Perhaps its apparent backward motion also implies that sometimes we have to do something which appears to lead away from our goal in order to prepare to achieve it after removing obstructions.

[Isabel]

Oh My God! I never thought you would put a link to it! THANKS ever so much!

Big hug and ;-)