By all accounts January 19, 1881 was just another day.

The years 1880 and 1881 were nothing special.

In the spring of 1880 British troops under Gen. Frederick Roberts marched from Kabul to Kandahar during the Second Anglo-Afghan War, relieving a threatened British garrison and securing a victory over Afghan fighters.

In July 1880 the French-American Union announced that enough money had been raised to complete the construction of the Statue of Liberty, though money would still have to be raised to construct its pedestal.

On November 2, 1880 James Garfield was elected U.S president.

On November 11, 1880 notorious Australian outlaw, Ned Kelly, was hanged in Melbourne, Australia.

On March 13, 1881 in Russia Alexander II, son of Nicholas I, was assassinated.

On May 21, 1881 the American Red Cross was incorporated by Clara Barton.

On July 2, 1881: President James Garfield was shot by Charles Guiteau at a Washington, D.C. train station.

On July 14, 1881 Billy the Kid was shot and killed by lawman Pat Garrett in New Mexico territory.

On September 19, 1881 President Garfield died of his gunshot wound.

And on October 26, 1881 the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral took place in Tombstone, Arizona.

The 1880s

The 1880s was a core period of the Second Industrial Revolution.

Most Western countries were experiencing large economic booms, due to the mass production of railroads and other methods of travel.

The Industrial Revolution describes Britain’s economic development from 1760 to 1840.

It featured technological, socioeconomic and cultural change.

Belgium was the first country in continental Europe to be transformed economically and by 1848 France had become an industrial power.

Germany despite vast resources of coal and iron did not begin its industrial expansion till 1870.

She was a late starter but by the turn of the century was out-producing Britain in steel and had become the world leader in the chemical industries.

In the late 19th-century the use of synthetic resources, lighter metals, new alloys, plastics, new energy sources and the wider ownership by stock holders heralded the second Industrial Revolution.

By then Japan had joined the rush to industrialize and America would soon became the world’s economic powerhouse.

January 19, 1881

So like most days January 19, 1881 slipped by without much notice.

Yet it was the day when the most significant astrological event occurred.

On January 19, 1881, when the Sun entered Aquarius, the Age of Aquarius dawned.

Its birth went unnoticed here on Earth but it seems the universe celebrated.

During the 19th-century six great comets – not your garden variety type comet – graced the skies within a space of 40 years.

Comet/1881K1 was discovered May 20, 1881 by John Tebbut at Windsor, New South Wales, Australia.

Due to its brightness it’s called the Great Comet of 1881.

Then on September 1, 1882 a comet appeared in the morning skies.

Comet/1882 R1 brightened dramatically and by September 14, as it approached its rendezvous with the Sun, was visible in broad daylight.

When it arrived at perihelion (the point in its orbit when it is closest to the Sun) on December 17 its magnitude suggested a silvery radiance that was 1,000 times brighter than the full Moon.

C/1882 R1 is perhaps the brightest comet that has ever been seen.

It’s called the Great September Comet of 1882.

So you could say that even though humanity didn’t throw a party the birth of the Age of Aquarius was celebrated by a cosmic light show involving blazing comets that were seen all around the world.

Astrology for Aquarius – sharing our knowledge