Halley’s Comet is named after Edmond Halley (1656-1742) who correctly predicted its periodicy and that it would return after his death in 1759. Although the comet’s average orbital period is 76 years, it has been as high as 79.3 years. The nucleus of Halley’s Comet is approximately 5x5x10 miles but has a very low density. The earliest observation of the comet was noted in 240 BC by the Chinese. It has also been famously recorded on the Bayeux Tapestry, mentioned in the Talmud and frequently associated with the Star of Bethlehem.
Polish Professor Kamienski considered the biblical mention of ‘an angel with a sword’ in 1Chron 21.16 to be a reference to Halley’s appearance around 1010 BC. In a similar fashion the historian Donald V. Etz in 1986(b) argued that Isaiah 14.12-15 was possibly inspired by the appearance of the same comet.
Halley’s comet was considered a harbinger of doom as its appearance seemed to eerily coincide with various disasters, both natural and military. In 1456 Pope Calixtus III excommunicated the comet as an agent of Satan. This appears to have been theologically unsound as the comet was never a member of the Church in the first place. Amazingly, the comet has continued to reappear, concurrent with the daily earthbound calamities that are our lot.
Jean Silvain Bailly was the first to compute the orbit of the comet and coincidentally also wrote on the subject of Atlantis at the end of the 18th century.
Col. Braghine theorised that Atlantis was destroyed as a result of a close encounter of the Earth with Halley’s Comet and similarly the Polish Professor Kamienski suggested that a large chunk of Halley’s Comet fell into the Gulf of Mexico in 9542 BC . Kamienski has also written very technical paper(a) on the 2320 BC appearance of the comet. The American astronomer Jack Hills, an asteroid specialist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory holds similar views to Kamienski.
Halley’s Comet has also been blamed for the disappearance of the Pannonian Lake, another proposed Atlantis location.
(a) http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1956AcA…..6….3K/0000003.000.html
(b) http://www.jstor.org/pss/1518410
