posted February 07, 2009 09:30 AM         

by Rachel Asher:

This February the omens say you may meet with a green-tailed beauty. Comet Lulin is her name. From Feb. 6 until February 24 (when she passes closest to Earth) Comet Lulin will be visible to us on clear nights, without the aid of binoculars or telescopes.

Comet Lulin was first discovered in 2007. Quanzhi Ye, the Taiwanese astronomer who found the comet when he was just 19 years old, explains that Lulin is rare not only for its green, glowing tail, but also for the method of its discovery. “This is a ‘comet of collaboration’ between Taiwanese and Chinese astronomers,” said Lulin in a NASA interview. “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.”

On Feb. 6, we’ll get the first opportunity to see the comet with unaided eyes: Lulin will pass through the fulcrum of the scales in the constellation Libra, the sign of partnership — or collaboration. On Feb. 16 it will pass the star, Spica, in the constellation Virgo — the sign of service. Spica is a star of first magnitude, which means that even city-dwellers can catch its light in the sky. Finally, on Feb. 24, Comet Lulin will arrive at its closest point (38 million miles from Earth) and come within a few degrees of Saturn, in the constellation Leo.

Chinese astrology traditionally interprets comets as important omens of history-making events. Comets are neither good or ill-omened by themselves, but interpreted in the context of other phenomenon. Passing through the constellations of Libra, Virgo and Leo, we might consider this message from Lulin: through partnership we serve to rebuild our image of leadership. It’s about as good an omen you can get from a green-tailed beauty.

posted February 07, 2009 10:05 AM           

I was just - in a differnt thread - mentioning those asteroids conjunct my Sun.

Wanna have three guesses where Lulin is in my birthchart?
Yes, on 28°39 Sagittarius conjunct my Sun.

posted February 08, 2009 11:11 AM         

More today from Rachel

Google Earth, the computer program that can provide visuals of anywhere in the world, released its latest version http://earth.google.com/index.html this week. Previously, the program offered satellite imagery, aerial photography and GIS 3D only for areas above sea level: bodies of water, particularly the oceans, were either blank or looked like cheap blue filler.
But now, Google Earth 5.0 explores the ocean to its deepest depth: the Marianas Trench, and includes famous underwater footage like Jacques Cousteau’s torch divers. New features also include historic imagery, where you can view up to 60 years of photographs from a single location to track changes over time, and tour recording, allowing the user to document points of interest and send the map to other users.
The biggest advance in the Google Earth project was announced on Wednesday, Feb. 2: Google Mars. It currently includes three types of data from the Red Planet: Elevation, Visible and Infrared. Google is currently working with NASA to advance Google Mars so it can be used similarly to Google Earth. There is a 3-D mock-up, made by Arizona State University, to show what it will look like. You can view it here->
[url] http://themis.asu.edu/valles_video/[/url] Date on this video page is March 8 2006