Aurora, Comets, Transits

An atlas from the Han Dynasty describes comets as “long-tailed pheasant stars.” In Indian mythology dhumketu (comet) is associated with two demons, Rahu and Kethu. Galileo named the magical streamers of lights in the sky, seen from the far north, aurora borealis, or dawn north wind, after Aurora, the Roman goddess of dawn, and Boreas, the Greek word for north wind.