Also massed with the planets, Sun and Moon on March 28 and 29, 1998 is the comet Temple/Tuttle designated as 55P on Charts 49 and 50. Comet Temple/Tuttle has a 33 year orbital period and had its closest approach to the earth on January 17, 1998 at 33 million miles. At that time the comet was not visible to the naked eye and reached a peak magnitude of 7.5. On March 28/29 the comet will be about 185 million miles from the earth. It is the debris that Comet Temple/Tuttle leaves behind that is responsible for the yearly Leonids meteor shower which peaks every November 17/18. The meteors radiate from the head of the Lion (Leo). Every 33 years, within one or two years from the comet's closest approach to the earth, there is the possibility of a meteor storm, in which meteors are seen falling at the rate of hundreds per second. There is a strong possibility that such a storm will occur on November 17, 1998 or on November 17, 1999 (see A Voice Crying in the Heavens, second edition, p. 99).

The constellations are also giving some interesting portrayals from mid March to mid April during the Spring feasts (Abib 1, Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread) which are similar to the portrayals they give in September and October, during the Autumn feasts (Day of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles). In the Autumn, these are seen in the morning sky shortly before sunrise, and in the Spring they are seen in the evening sky shortly after sunset. Chart 51 shows the constellation Cetus (the beast from the sea) just south of west standing on the horizon shortly after sunset on March 29. From Jerusalem, the beast from the sea or Dragon would appear to be standing on the Mediterranean Sea. Chart 52 shows the constellation Hydra (the water serpent or another beast from the sea) on the east-southeast horizon shortly after sunset on March 29. From Jerusalem, the serpent would appear to be rising up out of the Dead Sea. Chart 53 shows the constellation Draco (the Dragon) on the northern horizon shortly after sunset on March 29. The Dragon's head is seen here below the horizon. Chart 54 shows the constellation Draco about 3 hours after sunset. The Dragon is seen ascending into the heavens tail first. This is different from what is seen in the Autumn, when the Dragon is seen descending to the earth and is portrayed as being cast down to the earth (see the September, 1996 issue of Biblical Astronomy). But, Revelation 13:1 is still portrayed by the constellations Cetus and Hydra in March and April, though Revelation 12:9 is not portrayed by the constellation Draco at this time.

Revelation 13:1 (NIV) - And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea...

KJV has "and saw a beast rise up out of the sea...

Mars (Michael) and Saturn (Satan) will be at conjunction in Pisces on April 3.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE NEW MOON

It was the first day of the first month that the waters were dried up from off the earth after the great flood and Noah removed the covering of the ark (Gen. 8:13). It was on the first day of the first month that Moses set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation and put the ark of the testimony therein and covered the ark with the vail (Exodus 40:2,3 & 17-19). The first day of the first month has a lot to do with sanctification. See II Chronicles 29:17 (or whole chapter), and Ezekiel 45:16-19 for a few examples.

There are also occasions throughout the Old Testament that God spoke to His prophets, or/and, His prophets spoke to His people and gave them instruction on the first day of the month or the new moon. Some examples are Ezekiel 26:1, 29:17, 31:1, 32:1 and Haggai 1:1.

During the Millennial Kingdom, new moons will be times of worship.

Ezekiel 46:3 - Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the Lord in the sabbaths and in the new moons.

Isaiah 66:23 - And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.

ASTEROID TO STRIKE EARTH IN 2028?

As most of you have probably already heard, there was much concern over the trajectory of a recently discovered one-mile wide asteroid as coming dangerously close to colliding with Earth in the year 2028. Though it will take another three to four years before the most accurate calculations can be made on the asteroid's orbital path (more or less some fine tuning), it is now calculated that the asteroid will miss the earth by hundreds of thousands of miles, unless there are unseen elements which may cause perturbations. The orbital calculations and simulation of the asteroid is not yet available for the Dance of the Planets program, but should be soon. I plan to spend some time investigating the asteroid's orbital path as soon as it is available.

The following is from a press information sheet produced at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"Recent orbit computations on an asteroid discovered last December indicated that it was virtually certain that it would pass within the moon's distance of the earth a little more than 30 years from now. Refined computations, based on prediscovery images from 1990, show that the miss distance is now a rather comfortable 600 thousand miles.

The asteroid, known as 1997 XF₁₁, was discovered by Jim Scotti in the course of the Spacewatch program at the University of Arizona. This program utilizes modern technology on a 36-inch telescope at Kitt Peak that was built 77 years ago.

After the discovery observations on December 6, observations made by two Japanese amateur astronomers during the following two weeks showed that the minimum distance between the orbits of 1997 XF₁₁ and the earth was very small. Given also that the object is quite large as earth-approaching asteroids go, perhaps one mile across, it was added to the list of "potentially hazardous asteroids" (PHAs) that need to be monitored, lest they are destined to come dangerously close to the earth over the course of the next several centuries. There are currently 108 PHAs.

As astronomers continued to gather data on 1997 XF₁₁, it slowly began to become apparent that there would be a particularly close approach to the earth in October, 2028. A computation from observations spanning 60 days suggested that the miss distance would be 500 thousand miles. This distance may seem large in human terms, but it was less than had previously been predicted in advance for any other known asteroid during the foreseeable future.

Observations made on March 3 and 4 by Peter Shelus with a 30-inch telescope at the McDonald Observatory in western Texas extended the observed arc of 1997 XF₁₁ to 88 days. This time, the orbit computation indicated a mass distance of only 30 thousand miles from the center of the earth; the earth's radius is about 4 thousand miles. The time of encounter would be around 1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Thursday, October 26, 2028.

There was still some uncertainty to the computation. On the one hand, it was possible that 1997 XF₁₁ would come scarcely closer than the moon. On the other hand, the object could come significantly closer than 30 thousand miles. Further observations were necessary in order to refine the figures. It was also possible that prediscovery observations of 1997 XF₁₁ could be located on archival photographs. Pre-discovery images of 1997 XF₁₁ were located by Ken Lawrence (JPL) on films taken at Palomar in 1990 during the Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey by Eleanor Helen, Lawrence and Brian Roman using the 0.46-m Schmidt. The observations, on 1990 Mar. 22 and 23 were consistent with each other and allowed a much improved orbit to be derived for 1997 XF₁₁. These latest computations show that the nominal miss distance will be 600 thousand miles on 2028 Oct. 26 around 2:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Although the chances for an actual collision with earth in 2028 can now be discounted, the orbit of 1997 XF₁₁ will continue to come close to the orbit of the earth for the foreseeable future.