Visitor From Outer Space

When I was a little girl, I dreamed about being an astronomer. Our night sky was absolutely black and the valley was wide, and I spent countless hours outside with a telescope, learning constellations and the names of stars, watching eclipses, and being mesmerized by meteor showers. Never did a dreaming little girl have such a view of the heavens as I.

During 1996 and 1997, Comet Hale-Bopp became the brightest comet of the twentieth century. At the time I was living on the Potomac River about 20 minutes south of D.C. The comet was visible to the naked eye for an astonishing 18 months, and it passed perihelion on April 1, 1997. It was the most breathtaking, amazing and eerily beautiful sight I have ever seen. I feel so honored to have lived during its passage. Hale-Bopp shone brighter than any star in the sky except Sirius, and its two tails stretched 30--40 degrees across the sky. It was visible before the sky got fully dark each night, and while many great comets are very close to the sun as they pass perihelion, Comet Hale-Bopp was visible all night in the northern hemisphere. The last naked-eye observations were reported in December 1997. Hale-Bopp will return again around the year 4377.

This comet is very special to me and I spent many nights with it on the banks of the river, motionless, speechless, with tears of joy and awe running down my face. My mother had been battling cancer for three years and she died when the comet was at its brightest. I have dedicated this video to her and perhaps also to the dreaming little girl who lived in the yard so many years ago, waiting for the night visitors and imagining a world that lies just beyond the periphery.

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I didn't take the majority of these pictures ... all magnifications are from NASA public domain ... four stills are from Phillipe Demoulin and are used with permission.

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Music: 18 from '18' by Moby used with permission from mobygratis.com per gratis request # 2793.

"Visitor From Outer Space" is also a featured video on MobyGratis ...

http://www.youtube.com/MobyGratis

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Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• outer
• space
• comet
• hale
• bopp
• moby
• cancer
• mom
• mother
• suuzzee5
• mobygratis.com
• Virginia
• Highlands
• Appalachian
• mountain
• Blue
• Ridge

[wvufanngarner]

How can this be disliked by 5 people? what's not to love about this video?

[suuzzee5]

@wvufanngarner Guessing some folks just don't like it, Tom. )

[wvufanngarner]

Hello Suzzee, I had to see it again, well, I have seen it many times, but wanted to say hello this time :-)

Sweet Appalachia, always home.

[suuzzee5]

@wvufanngarner Hello Tom, you are so very kind. Thank you! I'm glad you enjoy this video and thank you, always for your friendship and lovely comments. Suze

[Dever33]

I remember I was working 2nd shift at a strip mines in KY. when hale bopp came through. It was so bright. I remember it like it was yesterday. I couldnt wait till sundown so i could see it. Please never take down this video....it's so beautifull !!

[suuzzee5]

@Dever33 Thank you, AC. I appreciate your kindness and also your support for this video. Sounds as if you had a response to Hale Bopp that was similar to mine. I roamed the banks of the Potomac River taking pictures and just sitting and gazing. Was out til all hours of the morning, sometimes not in the safest of places. I could not stay away. I know you understand.

[ivmar1]

love from space !

[j10betty]

To me this comet is like an speeding angel with blue and white wings the way the tail splits. its like a godess traveling through the cosmos looking for her lost mate . haha i know this sounds cheesy but thats my personal myth.

[nodlon20]

I remember watching it from the beginning when you had to get up before dawn in February, 1997 to see it and then later in the spring, I think, you could see it just after sunset. I watched it the whole time we could see it, and I was always so excited to see it. I miss it. I haven't seen anything that beautiful since!!

[dvrii]

This was an awesome and amazing comet. I watched it each evening for several weeks, stretched out across the western sky. It was brilliant and captivating.

[Trance1972]

I remember seeing this comet, amid all of the light pollution of Dallas Texas and was awe-struck by the beauty and magnitude of it, and that is was so bright even the bright night lights of the city could not dim it's beauty.

[TzarNicolasII]

Long live the Great Comet of 1997

[TzarNicolasII]

This comet reminds me of the peak of happy life.

Under this comet my life was pure adventure happiness, love. Me and girl

were stranded on a small Island off Algonac, Mich, While we were stranded we looked up at the comet before things got interesting. 1997 and were the best years of my life.

[walkedreader]

We looked at Hale-Bopp on its approach to the Sun as well as it's departure to the Kuiper Belt, all the while marveling at what amounted to the kind of evaporation you see off a ice cube on a frigid day. Amazing that so slight a change in state could hold such beauty to it. Even though it was virtually next door compared to the outer planets and in our laps compared to the nearest stars, it seemed so distant and yet so beautiful..