Back in the summer we were told to anticipate a bright, naked eye comet, just as we were with Halley, Holmes, Lovejoy, Panstarrs et al. In fact, yet again, we were disappointed! I could just make out Wirtanen as a fuzzy, greenish blob in between Taurus and the Pleiades. The last really good comets were over twenty years ago and you have to go back to 1910 for really spectacular objects with tails stretching right across the sky: that year there were two! Many people (including legendary astronomer Fred Hoyle) postulated a link between the two great comets of 1910 with the flu pandemic that followed a few years later.
If you're interested, one of my recent books (available on EBay and Amazon) investigates the links between comets and global catastrophes.
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