Chapter 28 Disasters from "Heaven's Gate"

In addition to Halley's Comet, comets that are often regarded as ominous signs also have a rare comet named after two people at the same time-Hale-Bopp Comet. Comet Hale-Bopp was discovered in 1995.At that time, Pope was observing the constellation Sagittarius in Arizona, but he accidentally noticed a celestial body that was not in the constellation.Judging by intuition, this is a new star that has not yet been discovered.Therefore, after observing the luminosity and position of this celestial body, a computer program was used to confirm the report of this new celestial body that has not yet been discovered.

At the same time, Hale in New Mexico also discovered the new comet during his routine observation of the comet and sent a report requesting the International Astronomical Union to confirm it.Since the two men discovered the comet almost at the same time, the International Astronomical Union named it Hale-Bopp Comet after Hale and Pope who discovered it at the same time. Comet Hale-Bopp lasted 569 days without using instruments to observe, breaking the previous record that a large comet could be observed with the naked eye.And through calculations, it is concluded that the Hale-Bopp comet has a cycle of 3,000 years, so this discovery can be said to be a rare event in a thousand years.Its next return to Earth is speculated to be around 4380 years.

The appearance of Comet Hale-Bopp has aroused great interest among astronomy enthusiasts, but at the same time, it has also caused panic among more people.During the observation process, some people claimed to have discovered an alien spacecraft, and some even said that the aliens hid in the tail of the comet in order to avoid the sight of the people on earth.Moreover, the comet is very reflective, and ordinary telescopes cannot see the inside of the comet tail at all. Only through the Hubble telescope can the truth be seen at a glance. Therefore, the rumors of aliens descending on the earth did not cause much repercussions at first.It wasn't until Alt Bell's paranormal radio talk show spread the rumor that people really panicked.In particular, people still don't know anything about the composition of Comet Hale-Bopp, and many phenomena can't be explained correctly. After Art Bell's embellishment, Comet Hale-Bopp has become a supernatural ability controlled by aliens. .Many ignorant believers succumb to these phenomena.

At that time, NASA and the astronomical community did not clarify the rumors of aliens. They only pointed out that those natural phenomena that had not been explained were not caused by aliens. satisfying answer.The rumors of aliens that have existed for a long time in human beings also come out to cause trouble at the right time, making the rumors that aliens hide in the tail of the comet more and more influential. With the appearance of the comet, the San Diego UFO Organization announced to the world that the world is going to be destroyed.The San Diego UFO organization is also known as "Heaven's Gate". They have been engaged in the detection and research of UFOs for many years.The so-called aliens hiding in the tail of the comet are widely known because of their advocacy.

The members of "Heaven's Gate" also claimed that when the world is going to perish, no creature can avoid it, and only those who belong to "Heaven's Gate" can enter heaven through a special way, which is suicide.So on March 26, 1997, 39 members of "Heaven's Gate" chose to commit suicide collectively.Before they died, they said that they hoped to successfully reach the gate of heaven and enter the place of God in this way. According to "Apocalypse", believers in "Heaven's Gate" believe that Satan controls the earth and human beings, and everything will be reduced to ashes in the flames of the apocalypse.Comet Hale-Bopp is the key to the apocalypse.

Soon after, Comet Hale-Bopp gradually moved away from the earth, and various speculations about it gradually faded out of people's vision. The end of the world predicted by "Heaven's Gate" did not appear, and the world still existed on this planet smoothly. Comet Hale-Bopp is not a young comet visiting for the first time. Its core material should have been heated by the sun many times, so when it approaches the sun, it will release a large number of dust particles and gas, forming a bright coma and generate a spectacular comet tail.Compared with Halley's comet, if two comets are placed in the same orbit, the luminosity of Hale-Bopp's comet will be thousands of times brighter than the other.

In 1997, Comet Hale-Bopp continued to dim after leaving the sun, and astronomers are still tracking it. By January 2005, it had surpassed the orbit of Uranus, and it can still be observed with large telescopes. shows that it is still releasing comet tails.Until January 2006, Japanese astronomers still photographed the comet in Australia, which is one of the reasons why Comet Hale-Bopp can still cause people to panic today. However, it is already gradually moving away from the sun, and the rumors of Comet Hale-Bopp and the "Gate of Heaven" have come to naught.