Comet Elenin: A news letter from NASA

Hi, I subscribe to NASA JPL's news letter.
This is the latest letter. About Comet Elenin:
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News feature: 2011-135 May 4, 2011

Comet Elenin: Preview of a Coming Attraction

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
www.jpl.nasa.gov...

You may have heard the news: Comet Elenin is coming to the inner-solar system this fall. Comet Elenin (also known by its astronomical name C/2010 X1), was first detected on Dec. 10, 2010 by Leonid Elenin, an observer in Lyubertsy, Russia, who made the discovery "remotely" using the ISON-NM observatory near Mayhill, New Mexico. At the time of the discovery, the comet was about 647 million kilometers (401 million miles) from Earth. Over the past four-and-a-half months, the comet has – as comets do – closed the distance to Earth's vicinity as it makes its way closer to perihelion (its closest point to the sun). As of May 4, Elenin's distance is about 274 million kilometers (170 million miles).

"That is what happens with these long-period comets that come in from way outside our planetary system," said Don Yeomans of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "They make these long, majestic, speedy arcs through our solar system, and sometimes they put on a great show. But not Elenin. Right now that comet looks kind of wimpy."

How does a NASA scientist define cometary wimpiness?

"We're talking about how a comet looks as it safely flies past us," said Yeomans. "Some cometary visitors arriving from beyond the planetary region – like Hale-Bopp in 1997 -- have really lit up the night sky where you can see them easily with the naked eye as they safely transit the inner-solar system. But Elenin is trending toward the other end of the spectrum. You'll probably need a good pair of binoculars, clear skies, and a dark, secluded location to see it even on its brightest night."

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."

NASA detects, tracks and characterizes asteroids and comets passing relatively close to Earth using both ground- and space-based telescopes. The Near-Earth Object Observations Program, commonly called "Spaceguard," discovers these objects, characterizes a subset of them, and predicts their paths to determine if any could be potentially hazardous to our planet.

JPL manages the Near-Earth Object Program Office for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, DC. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

More information about asteroids and near-Earth objects is at: www.jpl.nasa.gov... , and on Twitter: @asteroidwatch .

DC Agle (818) 393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
[email protected]

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Perhaps Elenin's tail appears so wimpy because of the mining vessel harvesting it.

Now at this point I suspect people will pile in, saying that NASA is in on the conspiracy, and that you cant trust anything they say, and its really a big killer death star with aliens hiding behind it and its mysteriously diverting off course, or whatever...
...so it bears repeating to head this all off that you dont need to trust NASA. Comet Elenin is big enough to be seen by multitudes of amateur astronomers around the world, and they
find
nothing
wierd.

really would have been nice if you posted some of your views or more info .....
but anyway well this is the complete opposite from what was stated in this post......
www.abovetopsecret.com...
direct to story>>>> www.activistpost.com...

personally mass is mass and mass in space creates gravity if the size is large enough......
we will see !!!! it will be a interesting time this fall i am ready for this roller coaster if it takes off

Did anyone catch how he kept using the word "safely"? It's almost like he was saying it too much.......

I did notice that this DC Agle
did not go into detail about
Elenin's tail or what was following it.
Predicting a comet is one thing,
but predicting what follows it
is a completely different matter.

Originally posted by Skippy1138
Did anyone catch how he kept using the word "safely"? It's almost like he was saying it too much.......

kind of like the way the Dubya administration
kept using the word TERROR.

Sure it's wimpy. Just like 'they' killed Osama last weekend....

Elenin is nemesis nibiru/wormwood, NASA knows and so do alot of posters claiming otherwise.
This is NASAs take on nibiru since the early eighties;
We suspect theres a large body out there somewhere we are yet to detect.
We are searching for planet x because something out there is disrupting the planets.
We have found planet x!
No we havnt.
There is no planet x.
The disruptions to certain planets are perfectly normal.
There is no way a large body will enter our solar system in our lifetime.
A large comet will enter our solar system.
Elenin is not nibiru.
Elenin is not nibiru even though it has the same predicted orbit.
Elenin is only small.
Elenin is getting bigger!
These generalisations are indeed what NASA would have us believe.

By comparison, my subcompact automobile exerts a greater influence on the ocean's tides than comet Elenin ever will.

-from the Op letter-

I had about two minutes of bliss and peace there, Lestweforget, until I read your post!

The closest comet/asteroid I've seen in some time is arriving June 2nd, according to the RSOE watchsite.

(2009 BD)
02nd June 2011 (28 days)

0.0023 AU or 0.9 Lunar Distances (LD) from earth
or roughly 345,000 km from earth

est. size 5.7 m - 13 m
1.91 km/s or 6876 km/h

hisz.rsoe.hu...

In all seriousness, thank you for the article from NASA, and the good news. An earlier thread I read on the subject had a diagram that placed Elenin extremely close to earth between October 20 to the 30th, just passing us at the 30th.

Originally posted by lestweforget
Elenin is nemesis nibiru/wormwood, NASA knows and so do alot of posters claiming otherwise.

Exactly who do you claim "knows otherwise?" Elenin is not Nibiru/Nemesis, or anything of the sort. It's a very faint comet that currently requires a very powerful telescope to see, and it's not even detectably perturbing small asteroids as it flies right past them. That would not be the case if it were a massive object like you're claiming.

Elenin is not nibiru even though it has the same predicted orbit.

Nibiru was supposed to be highly inclined to the ecliptic, Elenin is just the opposite. Elenin's orbital period is also much longer than 3600 years. EVERY long period comet has a very eccentric orbit, which is probably why you claim it's on the "same predicted orbit" even though it's not.

reply to post by Tephra


This Elinen misdirect from NASA (NSA) is begining to get a little tiresome. I don't know any other reason for them to change the name of NEMESIS, other than to misdirect, smoke and mirror, or whatever. Get over yourselves already. NEMESIS is here and NIBIRU (planet in orbit) and WORMWOOD (remains of broken up planet). Go to the crop circle web sites to see what the WATCHERS have given to warn you of this event.

The UFO's trailing this system are just like what happens when the Perseids and Leonids come through every fall and spring. They have been coming into our air space for years this way. They ride in like meteors, do their little flash job and walk off under the radar. The government finally started knocking some of them out with ground and land based lasers from Norad (note every news item claiming the sky lit up BLUE from horizon to horizon).

What you all here at ATS need to do is prepare to go into the mountains NOW and find caves abandoned mines etc. (unless of course you're NWO). For me, I do not sweat it because I trust in the ULTIMATE POWER OF THE UNIVERSE, JEHOVAH GOD. See ya on the other side. Peace Out!

reply to post by Yule C Mann


I feel that our very own government (US) feels that the object could exert some form of electrical effect on the planet. Maybe this would shut down the power grid for awhile. Whether this is true or not I don't know, but as far as what they think might be possible, I feel they think it could happen.

Could Elenin be in fact a large asteroid rather than a comet? An asteroid so large that it appears to have comet features, like a tail of debris and even a comet like front.

So I would like to go on record saying it is not a comet, star or planet, but a huge asteroid. That would account for the gravitational effect.

There you have the solution, not by science, but by clairvoyance.

Originally posted by yourmamaknows
So I would like to go on record saying it is not a comet, star or planet, but a huge asteroid. That would account for the gravitational effect.

What gravitational effect? It hasn't even managed to detectably perturb the small asteroids it's been flying by, so its gravitational pull must be small, as would be expected for a comet.

reply to post by ngchunter


Oh well. Guess we have to wait and see. I am wrong a lot.

I think if it is a real danger, some rich types will be able to buy the info in advance and take advantage of market swings. Would be looking for selling pressure on the Sept. and Oct. dates. The greater the danger the more selling pressure in financial markets.

reply to post by yourmamaknows


The very descriptive difference of a comet and an asteroid is the formation of a coma, and tail. There are however, what they call expired comets that lost all of the coma forming mass now called asteroids. All of these bodies are categorize not as planetoids due to their small sizes. So small mass bodies not in a planetary orbit are comets or asteroids, larger bodies are planetoids, like Pluto, and Eris and so on. Objects are called dwarf planets or planetoids if their self-gravity is sufficient to achieve hydrostatic equilibrium, that is, an ellipsoidal shape, or sphere, and not necessarily able to support moons. If any object has enough density to have a mass great enough for a Hill sphere to be larger in diameter than its own diameter, it will support a satellite.

So something the size of the space shuttle in deep space does not have the density to put an astronaut in orbit around it because its Hill sphere is smaller than its size. Many asteroids have sufficient mass to have their own moons.

Originally posted by Skippy1138
Did anyone catch how he kept using the word "safely"? It's almost like he was saying it too much.......

I noticed that as well...overcompensating if you ask me.

reply to post by lestweforget

Elenin is nemesis nibiru/wormwood, NASA knows and so do alot of posters claiming otherwise.

Why? Because you say so? Terral's ridiculous claims have been shown to be false over and over and over and over and over and over again. Why don't you do some actual research for yourself> Find out what comets are, find out what planets are, find out what brown dwarfs are, find out how gravity and celestial mechanics works... then start researching Sumerian astronomy. You will be shocked, shocked to find out the truth.

reply to post by Skippy1138


I safely noticed how safe the rhetoric was safely distributed and made me feel safe.

reply to post by Skippy1138


Yes,,Took note of that everything should be safe.Believe what we tell you.
If he was able to give the mass etc and show us mathematically that its no threat then nasa may gain back some credibility.
Nasa is a running joke at the European space agency.
I aint buying it.