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The Heaven's Gate deaths were widely publicized in the media as an example of mass suicide. [57] When the news broke of its relation to Comet Hale–Bopp, the co-discoverer of the comet, Alan Hale, was drawn into the story. Hale's phone "never stopped ringing the entire day".
Comet Hale–Bopp (formally designated C/1995 O1) is a long-period comet that was one of the most widely observed of the 20th century and one of the brightest seen for many decades. [11] [12] [13] Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp discovered Comet Hale–Bopp separately on July 23, 1995, before it became visible to the naked eye.
Applewhite told them the comet Hale-Bopp was being trailed by an alien spacecraft and, if they died, they could board it. 38 people committed suicide. 20 years after the Heaven's Gate mass suicide ...
The group, led by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles, believed that through their deaths they were exiting their human "vessels", which would allow them to advance to the "Next Level" via a spaceship they believed to be following comet Hale–Bopp. [28]
Comet Hale–Bopp over California in April 1997. In October 1996, the group rented a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, California. [44] [111] That year, they recorded two video messages in which they offered their viewers a "last chance to evacuate Earth". [169] Around the same time, they learned of the approach of Comet Hale–Bopp. [111]
Thomas Joel Bopp (October 15, 1949 – January 5, 2018) was an American amateur astronomer. In 1995, he discovered comet Hale–Bopp; Alan Hale discovered it independently at almost the same time, and it was thus named after both of them. [1] At the time of the comet discovery he was a manager at a construction materials factory and an amateur ...
[30] In addition to the vernal equinox, he speculated that the timing of the suicides could also have to do with the weekend having experienced a lunar eclipse and the passage of the Hale–Bopp comet. [30] The Canadian newspaper Le Devoir later received a letter from other OTS members following the transit, discussing the Saint-Casimir ...
Alan Hale (born 1958) [1] is an American professional astronomer, who co-discovered Comet Hale–Bopp along with amateur astronomer Thomas Bopp. [2]Hale specializes in the study of Sun-like stars and the search for extra-solar planetary systems, and has side interests in the fields of comets and near-Earth asteroids.