Posted on 10/17/2019 6:47:34 AM PDT by C19fan
An Astronomer has released our best and sharpest look to date at Comet Borisov, the second ever-known interstellar object to visit our solar system, using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to capture the new image.
The comet was travelling at around 110,000 miles per hour when University of California Los Angeles astronomer David Jewitt studied it on October 12, 2019, when it was 260 million miles away.
The comet — which is named after the Crimean astronomer who discovered it — will pass within around 177,000 miles (285,000 kilometres) of the Earth in early December this year.
It is trailing behind it a 100,000 mile-long tail of dust, which is released as the comet melts in the Sun's glare.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
That's closer than the moon. Should get a good look at that distance.
Looks like a white dot.
That is because it is coming directly at you....................like a train in the tunnel............
“The comet was travelling at around 110,000 miles per hour.......”
I hope we are on the right side of the Earth to see it!.................
I thought 110K mph was fast. Then I saw the fastest recorded object in the solar system was a comet that went right into the sun at 1.34 million mph in 2016.
The Daily Mail reporter seems to have dropped three zeros.
Space.com has its closest approach being around the orbit of Mars.
“The comet’s closest approach to the sun, which will occur in December, will be at roughly 186 million miles (300 million km), or twice Earth’s average distance from the sun.”
https://www.space.com/interstellar-comet-borisov-looks-normal.html
Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel
Is just the freight train coming your way
Metallica - - "No Leaf Clover"
Now I'm disappointed. I just hope it doesn't smash into anything in the asteroid belt. That could be seriously bad news for Earth.
‘Make of this what you will, but based on these initial characteristics, this object appears indistinguishable from the native Solar System comets,’ said Mr Guzik.
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Much more cooler, impressive and relative to life as we know it now than all those other boring interstellar objects we have seen in all of our time examining the cosmos.
Can we get more government grant money now?
Another thread I saw this morning showed trajectory heading directly for Uranus.
https://phys.org/news/2019-10-astronomers-cyanide-gas-interstellar-2iborisov.html
Snip
“...Using data gathered by the William Herschel Telescope (WHT), an international team of astronomers found that 2I/Borisov contains cyanide. But as Douglas Adams would famously say, “Don’t Panic!”...”
Snip
“...But before anyone gets to thinking that this could pose a danger to life on Earth, a few caveats are necessary. For starters, based on 2I/Borisov’s trajectory, the comet will pass beyond the orbit of Mars. By December 8th, 2019, it will make its closest approach to the sun, reaching under 2 AU in distance (or twice the distance between the sun and Earth).
This means that Earth has no chance of passing through the comet’s tail, and therefore will not be getting any cyanide gas in its atmosphere. Second, something very similar happened back in 1910, when Earth passed through the orbit of Halley’s Comet, and our atmosphere brushed with its tail for a period lasting six hours. Prior to this, astronomers announced that they had obtained spectra that indicated the presence of cyanogenic gas in its tail.
While most astronomers insisted there was nothing to worry about, a French astronomer (Camille Flammarion) was less than optimistic. The New York Times quoted him as saying, “Cyanogen gas would impregnate the atmosphere and possibly snuff out all life on the planet.” Many people took this warning seriously and began to panic. But guess what? Like so many other apocalyptic predictions, this one was spectacularly wrong.
This time around, Earth won’t even pass through the comet’s tail, so it’s fair to say that the risk is non-existent. So… you know, don’t panic. There is no danger, and the presence of this comet in our solar system represents a major opportunity to conduct serious astronomical research and should be recognized as such.”
Guzik is right. Looks like every other comet.
*ping*
Well, it sort of is...on it's inbound track. Give or take about 500 million miles. =;^)
Is that a polite way of implying that we all should bend over and spread our cheeks?
Thanks fieldmarshaldj.
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