Comet McNaught is the brightest comet visible from earth in a generation – at magnitude -5 it is the brightest comet since Ikeya-Seki in 1965 according to Universe Today. It is six times bigger than Hale-Bopp in 1997 and 100 times brighter than Halley’s comet as it last appeared in 1986 according to NASA scientists.

Humans have been fascinated by comets for thousands of years. Unlike planets, comets are unpredictable which led many cultures to believe that the gods were sending a message through the comet. Not every single thing has meaning and significance, but it makes sense to me that if planets and stars have symbolic significance, and if Chiron, officially classified as both a comet and an asteroid, has meaning, then intermittent comets must have meaning as well.

Ancient cultures feared comets, but they also feared Saturn and we now know that every aspect of astrological symbolism has both a positive and negative manifestation. Perhaps comets are indeed intended to get our attention and cause us to look at the sky; to look for meaning in life and experience the wonder of the natural world.