Posted on 06/25/2011 4:14:56 PM PDT by LucyT
Icy body may even be bright enough to be seen in the day, expert says.
Astronomers stumbled upon the icy interloper on June 5 while searching for potentially hazardous asteroids.
Equipped with the world's largest digital camera1,400 megapixelsthe University of Hawaii's Pan-STARRS team snagged a faint image of the odd object while it was more than 700 million miles (1.1 billion kilometers) away, between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn.
By March 2013 the comet, named C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS), is expected to come within 30 million miles (48 million kilometers) of the suncloser even than the innermost planet, Mercury.
[snip]
Astronomers believe C/2011 L4 may be a runaway from the Oort cloud, a reservoir of billions of hibernating comets that orbits about 100,000 times farther than the distance between Earth and the sun.
"The current path of the comet is typical of those thought to be originating from the Oort cloud, showing it coming up from the southunderneath the Earthgoing up the back side of the sun and into the north sky, very nearly perpendicular to the plane of the solar system," Wainscoat said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalgeographic.com ...
Good thing I know survival arts
Seems that there are a couple of comets expected to be visible to the naked eye in 2013.
:)
LOL!
laughing...
Here’s more:
(excerpted)
Comet Elenin: Preview of a coming attraction
Comet Elenin should be at its brightest shortly before the time of its closest approach to Earth on Oct. 16 of this year. At its closest point, it will be 35 million kilometers (22 million miles) from us. Can this icy interloper influence us from where it is, or where it will be in the future? What about this celestial object inspiring some shifting of the tides or even tectonic plates here on Earth? There have been some incorrect Internet speculations that external forces could cause comet Elenin to come closer.
“Comet Elenin will not encounter any dark bodies that could perturb its orbit, nor will it influence us in any way here on Earth,” said Yeomans. “It will get no closer to Earth than 35 million kilometers [about 22 million miles].”
“Comet Elenin will not only be far away, it is also on the small side for comets,” said Yeomans. “And comets are not the most densely-packed objects out there. They usually have the density of something akin to loosely packed icy dirt.
“So you’ve got a modest-sized icy dirtball that is getting no closer than 35 million kilometers,” said Yeomans. “It will have an immeasurably miniscule influence on our planet. By comparison, my subcompact automobile exerts a greater influence on the ocean’s tides than comet Elenin ever will.”
Yeomans did have one final thought on comet Elenin.
“This comet may not put on a great show. Just as certainly, it will not cause any disruptions here on Earth. But there is a cause to marvel,” said Yeomans.
“This intrepid little traveler will offer astronomers a chance to study a relatively young comet that came here from well beyond our solar system’s planetary region. After a short while, it will be headed back out again, and we will not see or hear from Elenin for thousands of years. That’s pretty cool.”
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-05-comet-elenin-preview.html
Thank you for posting this article.
A Comet’s tail is the result of having a high enough energy source (a Star) that you can burn ice.
The reason Comets seem to last so long is that when not near their star, they accumulate ice in the nether regions of space. Turns out ice is plentiful, and likely found throughout the Universe. Tons of it enters our atmosphere every day.
It should pass inside of Earth's orbit and maybe tickle us with its tail, if the tail grows to 40 million miles in length! :)
SOMETHING BIG IS COMING AND THE ELITE KNOW IT. BUT WHAT EXACTLY IS IT?
Some see Comet Elenin as Christ returning
The Hidden Meaning in the Name’’
LEONID ELENIN
1. Leo-nid- The Strength of a Lion
2. EL- GOD in Hebrew
3. Anan- Hidden in a CLoud-Hebrew.
We are suppose to see it Starting this August.
LOL, Too funny!
IMO, we have a number of years remaining until we'll need rescuing as a whole. But I could be wrong. ;)
Have you seen this?
Confirmed by:
Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back
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