This is my entry for the IFC Round 16 started by 
Knowledge of the Hidden
Ever since the dawn of Man, we have been searching for the knowledge that is hidden away from us in plain sight. Our curiosity has sent us down the paths of forbidden experiments in the attempt to extract this knowledge from the clutches of the natural world. Sometimes, the knowledge is held strongly and must be taken by force, and other times the knowledge comes by just watching and listening to the universe.
Impending Doom
Just like the fabled Sword of Damocles, the Earth faces a danger from the Occult in the heavens. In the past this sword has devastated the planet, changing the face of the evolution of life forever and laying the foundations for the Age of Mankind.
Our Saviours
In the past, we have had the mages and the alchemists that sought knowledge of the hidden and kept watch over us. Now, we have our modern saviours many of whom are working privately as citizens in their own time. However, there is an elite cabal that has penetrated the machinery of the government to work from within the centres of power.
The Great Evil
The Earth is overdue for a major asteroid impact. The last major impact caused an extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs and paved the way for the dominance of mammalian life, which eventually led to the evolution of the modern humans. There are many objects that cross the path of the Earth's orbit, and some of them could be large enough to cause us serious harm.
The Spaceguard Survey is the overarching term used to describe the collection of efforts to discover and map the orbits of Near Earth Objects, with an emphasis on those that might be hazardous to our planet. Organisations that are part of this effort include the citizen science group, International Occultation Timing Association and Planetary Defense Coordination Office of NASA.
Occultation (getting to the point...)
The term "Occultation" refers to the event when one object is hidden by another object that passes between it and the observor. In the case of asteroids, the otherwise invisible asteroid occults the background of stars or perhaps the moon or other planets. Unless they otherwise reflect light, this is the only reliable way to discover asteroids against the dark backdrop of space.
Discovering the occultation takes immense patience and skill. The observer must be prepared to watch the same patch of sky hoping for lengths of time, hoping for the moment that the backdrop makes a minute change that suggests something occulted it.
So, when you think of the occult and occultations, think of the unsung heroes of the Skyguard Survey and give thanks that someone is prepared to do the hard work of protecting our planet from the danger from above!
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