0102 - 2024.06 In the year of the comet

It had been over a century since anyone had seen a good old-fashioned comet. You know, like the one’s described in old texts and woodgrain prints, lighting up the night sky with glowing tails portending doom, gloom and the birth of auspicious people.

Modern technology allowed the early discovery of cometary visitors. Old favourites like Halley’s and new friends could be tracked with amazing precision.

But - there is always a but - they were too far away. They were too close to the Sun. The tail was facing away from Earth. It was raining during the peak viewing week. It was full moon during the peak viewing week. It was daytime! Always some reasonable excuse, hosing down expectations.

3/ATLAS was emitting carbon dioxide, producing an unusual flare. It’s an alien spaceship declared some, rather than the scientific curiosity that it was. In a time of alternative facts, indulgent over entitlement and social media the truth became a conspiracy theory that the elite were hiding from the world. Laughable when the elite were only in positions of influence by peddling the same conspiracies to the masses.

So when a real, large, honest-to-goodness five-hundred-year-period comet returned and passed close to Earth, everyone was stunned. Why was this not in the history books? Because last time it was on the wrong side of the Sun, it was weak and feeble viewing, best from the unpopulated southern hemisphere. Scientifically explained.

That mattered not. Everyone wanted naming rights. Religions espoused the second coming. Doomsayers pronounced the end of the world. UFOlogists said the aliens are not only coming, they’re here! Authoritarians claimed credit, and used the distraction to hide nefariousness. Skeptics disbelieved.

Ordinary folk gazed up into the evening sky and just saw it for what it was, a once in a lifetime display of the wonders of the universe, and gave thanks.

Technique: #tetra_etch
Style: #abstract #landscape
Highlight colour; #green #blue

Series: #mini-sci-fi #space