Humans, are you ready to go extinct?! Comet Elenin Could Hit Earth!

[Radojica]

Comet Elenin was just discovered this past Dec. 2010 by a Russian Astronomer Leonid Elenin. The question is why media hasn’t said anything about it? They have always made a big fuzz in the past about found comets. Is it because it is going to be coming a little too close for comfort and they don’t want people freaking out? Comet Elenin Could Hit Earth. This is a possibility because of the very unstable predictions of the Comet. Preliminary predictions have Comet Elenin coming within 42 million miles of the Earth with a very favorable comet sun angle for observers in the northern hemisphere. This is likely to change somewhat as additional data will tweak the orbit, but as it stands now we will see a spectacular comet in late October or early November 2011. When Comet Elenin first was discovered in December last 2010 it was calculated to pass 8.8 Au (8.8 times the distance of the Sun form us) away. But now these calculations has once changed again. Today the orbital calculation is down to 0.24 Au with a minimum as low as 0.15. But these data is being recalculated all the time and it could get even closer but that depends what it encounters in the Oort belt. Just so you know the Moon is 0.00256 away from us to give you a comparison. We must be aware the this comet could bring enormous amount of debris with it and Earth will pass through the debris trail. This will probably take place around the 6th November 2011 or later. ...

Russian Astronomer Leonid Elenin
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[YOUTUBE]CVs7glXfXzM[/YOUTUBE]

http://reinep.wordpress.com/2011/01/...uld-hit-earth/

[The Lawspeaker]

LOL.. another horror scenario. Number 2 zillion 4 billion and 24 over the last 25 years.

[Radojica]

LOL.. another horror scenario. Number 2 zillion 4 billion and 24 over the last 25 years.

Did you miss this part, or?

This is a possibility because of the very unstable predictions of the Comet. Preliminary predictions have Comet Elenin coming within 42 million miles of the Earth with a very favorable comet sun angle for observers in the northern hemisphere. This is likely to change somewhat as additional data will tweak the orbit, but as it stands now we will see a spectacular comet in late October or early November 2011. When Comet Elenin first was discovered in December last 2010 it was calculated to pass 8.8 Au (8.8 times the distance of the Sun form us) away. But now these calculations has once changed again. Today the orbital calculation is down to 0.24 Au with a minimum as low as 0.15.

1 Au is 150.000.000 km so count. I am not the one who believe in all that 2012 and other doomsday crap, therefore I posted this in Nature in Science section, not Conspiracy or off topic section. Jupiter will play major roll in future's trajectory of this comet.

If this comet pass near Earth that close, we'll be granted hell of a view of a comet, maybe even like Hale-Bopp comet which traveled through our Solar sistem in 1996-97.

[The Lawspeaker]

Lovely. I am unimpressed. If we have to believe the scaremongerers we would have had some 10 nuclear wars, famines, plagues and the world would have gone to shit 10 over time over the millenium. Don't forget the millenium bug etc.

[Radojica]

Lovely. I am unimpressed. If we have to believe the scaremongerers we would have had some 10 nuclear wars, famines, plagues and the world would have gone to shit 10 over time over the millenium. Don't forget the millenium bug etc.

Too much of whiskey tonight, matey, eh ? You are missing my whole point...

[The Lawspeaker]

At best we get a nice view. But the world is not going to end.

[Loddfafner]

Sky and Telescope is a slightly more sober and reliable source than Russian tabloids.

Right now, odds are that Comet Elenin will become an easy target for binoculars around mid-August and reach naked-eye visibility for a couple of weeks around perihelion. The comet's elongation from the Sun shrinks to just 1° following perihelion, but soon thereafter the comet gets enough separate to position itself nicely for viewing in the predawn sky.
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Finally, because Comet Elenin passes between the Sun and Earth, there's a chance its dust tail might "light up" (via forward-scattered light) due to the large Sun-comet-Earth angle and put on a really good show. The last interloper to do this, Comet McNaught, dazzled southern skygazers in January 2007.

[Radojica]

At best we get a nice view. But the world is not going to end.

Of course it will not. But for someone who is in astronomy, 40.000.000 km or so is frighteningly close. Perihelion distance of Hale Bopp comet was 0.914 Au and was one of the brightest in the last couple of centuries, this one is going to be 4 to 6 times closer, in other words, it's going to scratch the Earth.

What's gotten hearts beating a little faster since the discovery is that Comet Elenin is still more than 4 astronomical units (375 million miles) from the Sun and headed inbound. It's still early, and the calculated orbit is certain to change in the weeks ahead as more position measurements are made, but right now it appears that the comet's perihelion will occur well inside Earth's orbit, about 0.45 a.u. (42 million miles) from the Sun, next September 5th.

Right now, odds are that Comet Elenin will become an easy target for binoculars around mid-August and reach naked-eye visibility for a couple of weeks around perihelion. The comet's elongation from the Sun shrinks to just 1° following perihelion, but soon thereafter the comet gets enough separate to position itself nicely for viewing in the predawn sky.

Moreover, it's traveling very near the ecliptic plane, and as it sweeps close to the Sun its sky location won't stray far from the ecliptic until mid-September, when the path arcs slowly northwestward through Leo. That's a plus for skywatchers in the Northern Hemisphere.

Finally, because Comet Elenin passes between the Sun and Earth, there's a chance its dust tail might "light up" (via forward-scattered light) due to the large Sun-comet-Earth angle and put on a really good show.

[Radojica]

lol, we quoted the same source at the same time

[Guapo]

At best we get a nice view. But the world is not going to end.

Right now, odds are that Comet Elenin will become an easy target for binoculars around mid-August and reach naked-eye visibility for a couple of weeks around perihelion. The comet's elongation from the Sun shrinks to just 1° following perihelion, but soon thereafter the comet gets enough separate to position itself nicely for viewing in the predawn sky.
...
Finally, because Comet Elenin passes between the Sun and Earth, there's a chance its dust tail might "light up" (via forward-scattered light) due to the large Sun-comet-Earth angle and put on a really good show. The last interloper to do this, Comet McNaught, dazzled southern skygazers in January 2007.