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Old 09-26-2011, 06:56 PM   #1
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Last December, Russian Astronomer Leonid Elenin discovered a previously unknown comet. This comet has been named C/2010 X1, or more commonly referred to as Comet Elenin. The discovery of this comet is exciting, yet unsettling at the same time. Exciting in the fact that there are many, many bodies in the solar system that we have yet to discover, unsettling in the fact that it was just a few short months ago. The current projected path puts Comet Elenin at within .24 Au (Astronomical Units – Distance of the Earth to the Sun is 1 Au) of Earth. In comparison, the Hale-Bopp Comet of 1997 closest pass to earth was 1.315 Au. Needless to say, this should be a very bright comet in the night sky.

http://www.weirld.com/Paranormal/UFO...struction.html

http://50kview.blogspot.com/2011/03/...n-to-pass.html


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Old 09-27-2011, 06:20 PM   #2
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What apparently will not happen is that Comet Elenin will have anything to do with it. Once rumored to be ending the world starting October 16th, 2011, its apocalyptic possibilities collapsed faster than the earthquake doomsday predictions of Harold Camping ( okay, that reference is pretty obscure, since his 15 minutes of fame were up May 21st, see So The Rapture Is Saturday - Luckily The Grey's Anatomy Season Finale Was Last Night to refresh your memory), though at least he wasn't actually debunked until May 21st whereas Comet Elenin is being debunked in my column a month ahead of Doomsday Hour. That doesn't mean people have given up hoping they'll be right and the world will end.

The Elenin doomsday talk began Dec. 10, 2010 when Russian astronomer Leonid Elenin (all the best stuff happens with Russian scientists) 'remotely' discovered it using International Scientific Optical Network's robotic observatory in New Mexico (all the best stuff happens in New Mexico) and immediately weirdos began blaming it for earthquakes, storms on Saturn and predicting it would flip Earth's magnetic field - despite it being really small and twice as far away as the Sun.

Why the hype? People can't (or won't) do basic math. Since it was 1/100,000,000,000th the mass of the Moon and wouldn't ever be even 90 Moon-Earth distances (22 million miles) from us, it might exert 1/100,000,000,000,000th the force of the moon's tidal pull on Earth. Essentially, nothing, unless the gravitational effect of a speck of dust on your car is a concern.

So, no 'three days of darkness', because it was never crossing the Sun's path anyway, and it was only 2 miles wide - the Sun is 400,000 times the size of Comet Elenin so it was not casting any shadow. I say 'was' and you may have noticed other past tense expressions in previous paragraphs - because it turns out to be disintegrating even while we make fun of people over their hysteria believing it was ever a concern. Australian astronomer Michael Mattiazzo made the animated .gif below showing that it may be not even really be a comet any more. A solar flare last month may have blasted it to basically nothing.


http://www.science20.com/science_20/..._whimper-82711
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Old 10-05-2011, 07:33 PM   #3
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It might have been a good year for the Draconid meteor shower, if not for their bad timing.
Because the Earth this year is crossing a denser part of the dust trail left by Comet Giacobini-Zinner, the periodic shower is likely to have produced a better display than in most years -- perhaps 750 meteors an hour. But the peak is expected around 2 p.m. PDT on Saturday, and midafternoon is not good for meteor-watching.
And while the meteors will be falling during nighttime in the Eastern Hemisphere, a nearly full moon is expected to dull the spectacle there.
NASA space weatherman Bill Cooke suggests taking a look once it's dark. You might get lucky if forecasters' timing is off.
"The moon sucks. It's messed up meteor showers this year. Next year will be better," said Cooke, team leader of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Many of this year's meteor showers are falling at or near the time of full moons.
Because the Draconids move relatively slowly -- 12 miles per second -- they're faint and the moonlight "really tends to wash them out," Cooke said in a phone interview.
In 1933 and 1946, the Draconid outbursts were major -- observers reported an astounding rate of 20,000 shooting stars an hour. An Irish astronomer described the 1933 episode like a flurry of snowflakes.
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Old 01-07-2012, 07:58 PM   #4
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NASA doomsday predictions: No apocalypse now





On Dec. 21, 2012, many doomsday believers fear the apocalypse — anything from a rogue planet smashing into us to our world spinning end over end. However, the world should expect nothing more next year than the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, NASA says.

Many people point to the end of the Mayan Long Count calendar on Dec. 21, 2012 as evidence of the coming apocalypse, but astronomers have been quick to stress that there is nothing to be concerned about.

According to the ancient Mayan calendar, next year's winter solstice marks the end of a 144,000-day cycle. This cycle, which begins at the mythical Maya creation date, has already been repeated 12 times. The 13th will end in 2012, capping a full 5,200-year Mayan cycle of creation.

This date has long been shrouded in mystery, with many claiming that it will bring destruction to our planet. [End of the World? Top Doomsday Fears]

Rogue planet Nibiru?

One fear is that a rogue planet that has been dubbed "Nibiru" or "Planet X" is supposedly aimed at Earth. Self-proclaimed Nibiru expert Nancy Lieder, who says she is in contact with the aliens from Zeta Reticuli, first said Nibiru would cause widespread disaster in May 2003, only to change it to Dec. 21, 2012.

There is, however, no evidence that Nibiru is real.

"Nibiru is ridiculous because it doesn't exist — it never existed as anything other than a figment of the imagination by pseudo-scientists who don't seem bothered by a complete lack of evidence," astronomer Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object program office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., told SPACE.com.

There is no basis for the claim that it might be lurking behind the sun, as it could not have hidden from observation until now, Yeomans said. If such a planet was headed toward Earth by Dec. 21, 2012, it would already be visible to the naked eye.

Cosmic alignments?

There are also concerns that planets or stars might line up in ways that will transform Earth. For instance, some theorists claim that from our point of view, the sun will cross in front of the plane of our galaxy on Dec. 21. However, the sun already does this twice a year, Yeomans said.

In fact, the sun will eventually cross the plane of our galaxy. However, the sun is about 67 light-years from the galactic plane, so it should take several million years to do so, Yeomans said. Even then, when our solar system finally does cross the plane, nothing special will occur, he added. [10 Failed Doomsday Predictions]

Some also claim that gravitational effects from planets lining up with each other will somehow affect Earth. However, there is no planetary alignment due on Dec. 21, 2012, "and if there were, it wouldn't cause any problems," Yeomans said.

The only bodies that have any significant gravitational impact on Earth are the moon and the sun, effects we see as the tides. Tidal effects from other bodies in our solar system are negligible at best, and in any case, we have experienced them for millions of years without notice.






Source Info = http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-...pocalypse-now/
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