http://www.universetoday.com/86421/comet-elenin-just-passing-by/
It starts out innocently enough: a small speck against a field of background stars, barely noticeable in the image data. But its a speck that wasnt there before. Subsequent images confirm its existence theres something out there. Something bright, something large, and its moving through our solar system very quickly. The faint blur indicates that its a comet, an icy visitor from the outermost reaches of the solar system. And its headed straight toward Earth.
Exhaustive calculations are run and re-run. Computer simulations are executed. All possibilities are taken into consideration, and yet theres no alternative to be found; our world will face a close encounter with a comet in mere months time. Phone calls are made, a flurry of electronic messages fly between computer terminals across the world, consultations are held with top experts in the field. We are unprepared what can we do? What does this mean for civilization as we know it? What will this speeding icy bullet from outer space do to our planet?
The answer? Nothing.
Nothing at all. In fact, it probably wont even be very interesting to look at if you can even find it when it passes by.
(Sorry for the let-down.)
Theres been a lot of buzz in the past several months regarding Comet Elenin, a.k.a. C/2010 X1, which was discovered by Russian astronomer Leonid Elenin on December 10, 2010. Elenin spotted the comet using a telescope in New Mexico remotely from his location in Lyubertsy, Russia. At that time it was about 647 million kilometers (401 million miles) from Earth in the time since it has closed the distance considerably, and is now around 270 million km away. Elenin is a long-period comet, which means it has a rather large orbit around the Sun it comes in from a vast distance, swings around the Sun and heads back out to the depths of the solar system a round trip lasting over 10,000 years. During its current trip it will pass by Earth on October 16, coming as close as 35 million km (22 million miles).
It starts out innocently enough: a small speck against a field of background stars, barely noticeable in the image data. But its a speck that wasnt there before. Subsequent images confirm its existence theres something out there. Something bright, something large, and its moving through our solar system very quickly. The faint blur indicates that its a comet, an icy visitor from the outermost reaches of the solar system. And its headed straight toward Earth.
Exhaustive calculations are run and re-run. Computer simulations are executed. All possibilities are taken into consideration, and yet theres no alternative to be found; our world will face a close encounter with a comet in mere months time. Phone calls are made, a flurry of electronic messages fly between computer terminals across the world, consultations are held with top experts in the field. We are unprepared what can we do? What does this mean for civilization as we know it? What will this speeding icy bullet from outer space do to our planet?
The answer? Nothing.
Nothing at all. In fact, it probably wont even be very interesting to look at if you can even find it when it passes by.
(Sorry for the let-down.)
Theres been a lot of buzz in the past several months regarding Comet Elenin, a.k.a. C/2010 X1, which was discovered by Russian astronomer Leonid Elenin on December 10, 2010. Elenin spotted the comet using a telescope in New Mexico remotely from his location in Lyubertsy, Russia. At that time it was about 647 million kilometers (401 million miles) from Earth in the time since it has closed the distance considerably, and is now around 270 million km away. Elenin is a long-period comet, which means it has a rather large orbit around the Sun it comes in from a vast distance, swings around the Sun and heads back out to the depths of the solar system a round trip lasting over 10,000 years. During its current trip it will pass by Earth on October 16, coming as close as 35 million km (22 million miles).
