Elenin Comet Rumours Are Baseless
August 29th 2011 01:06
Category: Comets
late August comet Elenin should be visible to the naked eye as a dim "fuzzy star
There has been a lot of Ho Ha lately about impending doom, gloom and destruction . The scare monger brigade are working overtime to ensure that their “predictions” will some how come to pass. The tactics employed by a few ill informed individuals with little or no training. Some with vested interests are trying to cash in. The surprising part is there are people who are willing to listen.
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The doom business is gearing up to do a roaring trade over the next few months.
With prediction of 2012 the comet crashing to Earth and the list goes on.
There is enough natural disasters happening on Earth without the need to invent new ones.
The forecasting of doom has been entrenched within human society since man first walked on the Earth.
At times there are objects that pass very close to Earth, even some that may pose a threat.
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Thankfully we have a very good warning system. Since the cold war era extensive monitoring has taken place on a worldwide basis. Optical and radar techniques are employed in the systematically searching for any Earth grazing objects.
There no guarantee that Earth won’t be hit in the future, it is just a matter of time.
The hype is mostly about C/2010 X1 a comet dubbed Elenin.
Like most comets that traverse our Solar System. Comet Elenin is heading for inner realm of the solar system. Just like comet Halley did in 1910 the Earth passed through the tail of the comet with no ill effects apart form a few spectacular meteor showers. The rumours were rife even back then.
Now have a almost the same situation as we did in 1910 except that on October 16 2011 Elenin will indeed pass by Earth the closest it will get is to us is a whopping 35405568 Km. That’s almost 90 times farther than the distance from the Moon to Earth, in reality that’s not exactly close.
While it is true that there has been some recent minor incidents where asteroids were passing within the orbit of our Moon.
Those objects were small, about the size of a house some slightly larger. Comet Elenin, is about two or three miles in diameter.
This October relax, grab a chair enjoy a glass of wine or your favourite beverage and take a peek through a telescope or binoculars, that’s what I will be doing.
Post Script.
June , 2004, the Kitt Peak National Observatory intersected an asteroid named Apophis. The observatory plotted a possible collision course with Earth.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory determined Apophis’s arrival date with Earth to be April 13, 2029, that it would make a near-pass, and then return again in 2036, resulting in a high probability of collision, but that is far from being conformed.
Currently Apophi’s trajectory cannot be accurately plotted the numbers will be revised when Apophis makes a near pass with Earth in 2036.
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