Some of you might be following the passage of comet ZTF, said to be the most visible comet for some time. If skies are clear in New Zealand over the coming two weeks it will be visible, probably only in very dark skies or through binoculars, heading, from the 5th February, through the constellation of Auriga, the Charioteer, and from around the 10th into the constellation of the Bull, and passing near to reddish Mars around the 11th February and the important star Aldebaran at the base of the Bull's V-shaped horns around the 14th. Try looking not too far above the horizon, slightly N of NW, around 11pm and before Moon rise. This article has some useful dates and location diagrams, and this one some better background information and with more relevance to those in the Southern Hemisphere.

This usual picturing of our solar system below, constructed out of sugar by American baker and astrologer Paul Schimmack in 1910, was to mark the arrival of Halley's Comet’s closest passage to the earth in May that year.

Schimmack, a meteorological astrologer, would have known that comets have long been taken as omens of terrestrial happenings. Given their seemingly unpredictable or irregular appearance they were considered harbingers of disorder and disaster. Often the constellation or significant star of their first naked-eye sighting, or at their closest or brightest passage, contributed to their interpretation. For example, as the earth passed through the brilliantly visible tail of Halley's comet, on the 6th May 1910, Edward VII of the British royal family died. England has a long history of significant comet connections, including an appearance of Halley's in 1066.

You might find this article on comets as omens interesting, or this one which lists many dates with associated events. I also enjoyed the way Bento, Schiapacasse and Tresemer, in Signs in the Heavens: a message for our time, worked with two comets visible in 1996 & 1997 whose paths crossed over the important malefic star Algol.

Good luck with viewing ZTF!