Earth to have close brush with comet

Originally posted by mrsdudara
What would you consider a threat cmmdr? All this stuff comes up and we all freak out, just for future reference, what is too close, and too big for you? That way, I wont freak out over this little 330 meter, 1.1LD stuff anymore.

Well, I would still consider that a threat because later in the object's orbit it could impact Earth. Though, on this pass we're safe. As for too close? I won't worry until something is on a known collision course.

Originally posted by mrsdudara
1.1 LD is far away? Isnt that the distance of the moon? Doesnt that mean it will be as close to us as the moon?

No, it means that it will pass on the other side of the moon, and that it's far enough away from the moon that the lunar gravity won't grab it and pull it in.


Seriously, if we can't reassure you, the best place for you to check is the newsletters of amateur astronomy societies. These are not under any government/etc control, and they are made up of a lot of people who (like Cdr and I) have telescopes and know how and where to look. And they're all a LOT better at this than me (a rank amateur)). If ANYthing was going to happen, these people would be screaming all over Internet because they'd have the hard data.

Here's some pages of these societies. You can find others, though:
comets.amsmeteors.org...

bfa3.home.att.net...

users.wirelessfrontier.net...

astro.sci.uop.edu...

Originally posted by Byrd
And they're all a LOT better at this than me (a rank amateur)). If ANYthing was going to happen, these people would be screaming all over Internet because they'd have the hard data.

Exactly! That's why I find it so incomprehensible that people believe some nutjob who says "It's gonna hit us!" every time something ends up coming remotely near us! Seriously, if this (or anything) were going to hit us, and provided we spotted it beforehand, there would be no way to keep this from the news. That's not my opinion, that is the honest truth of it.

Hay, good to know. Thanks guys, I will keep those links handy.

Just wondering though, has there ever been a time, when you all thought for sure that one WAS going to hit? You know, for more reasurrance when you all start screaming?

Yet another cool movie that has been created by Caltech using the Palomar Observatory. They say they discovered 16 more fragments during their observations.

www.astro.caltech.edu...

www.news24.com... ml

Does this mean TODAY?

Yes it means it begins it swing today...but the real show wont be until the 22nd or 23rd,.....and either way its going to be just a show...no major collisiion...no death no destruction no choas...just a really cool light show...I canna Wait

This is a fun little link for those who are interested in Comet prophecy.

www.satansrapture.com...

I do not agree with the fella's religion (no rapture!) and I
found a few spelling errors on the site. But overall, this is
enough to spook prophecy believers enough so that they
don't have to rent any spooky movies this weekend!

He says that the apparition of Mary in Fatima foretold what
this bible code prophecy says - and that the Vatican and
NASA are in cahoots in a conspiracy of knowing what is
coming and not telling.

Remember that interview the Vatican astronomer gave?
He was asked WHY the Vatican had an observatory. He
said that it is to watch for what IS COMING.

members.aol.com...

hmmmmmmm

At any rate .. nostradamus has it hitting near Greece. So
if anyone believes Nostradamus (I don't) .. don't worry about it.

www.satansrapture.com...

[edit on 5/18/2006 by FlyersFan]

Thanks for that site. I needed a good laugh. Here's what I found to be the best part...

IS A MASSIVE COMET APPROACHING EARTH?

I believe the answer to this question is "yes".

Well, ya don't say!?

The Moon is more likely to go supernova than this person's ideas ring true.

[edit on 5/18/2006 by cmdrkeenkid]

Originally posted by cmdrkeenkid
I needed a good laugh.

Glad to be of comic service!
I'm having fun checking out all the prophecies on this thing.
Funny thing is ... when I look at these prophecies a whole
slew of them come up for events that were supposed to take
place in the recent past, but that never did.

Hey .. At least I found out the (supposed) birthday of the antichrist.
www.newagedirectory.com...

February 5, 1962 because of an extremely rare
conjunction of 7 planets in the sign of Aquarius on this date

Well .. that leaves out a whole bunch of people that were supposed
to be the anti-christ. Shouldn't be too hard to nail him (or her) down
now, eh?

**Comet impact first, then anti-christ. So back to comet impact watch ....


[edit on 5/18/2006 by FlyersFan]

Originally posted by FlyersFan
This is a fun little link for those who are interested in Comet prophecy.

www.satansrapture.com...

I do not agree with the fella's religion (no rapture!) and I
found a few spelling errors on the site.


[edit on 5/18/2006 by FlyersFan]

Nothing like a crappy website with spelling errors to discredit someone!

The only concern i have is that on Montel, Sylvia Brown said there would be a problem caused by an asteroid. She foretold the twin towers on the Larry King show.

Originally posted by dgtempe
The only concern i have is that on Montel, Sylvia Brown said there would be a problem caused by an asteroid. She foretold the twin towers on the Larry King show.

Well, this is a comet, so we should be fine! (Sorry, I couldn't resist! ) When did she make both of those comments?

And eventually the Earth is going to be hit by something large and in charge. Like people are always saying: "It's not a matter of if, but when."

[edit on 5/18/2006 by cmdrkeenkid]

At the beginning of 2006 she appeared on Montel and did readings for a few people, and then Montel asked her about the *asteroid* and she said, very vaguely that she thought there would be some trouble having to do with an asteroid this year.

As far as 9/11 i dont recall, but she prophesied this on Larry King (sometime in 2001)

She did say asteroid- i remember it!

Originally posted by dgtempe
www.news24.com... ml

Does this mean TODAY?

from what i read, the report was that the earth would travel thru the debris path
on May 22-23rd (monday-tuesday)

but, in the future the earth might run into one of those 67 big chunks that "73P"
has disassembled itself into...

[we might want to note that debris field intersect date, and correlate it with any new disease outbreaks that might occur in a week or so after May22nd-23rd]...

Originally posted by dgtempe
Sylvia Brown said there would be a problem caused by an asteroid

She also said Bill Bradley would win the presidential election
in 2000. She also said ... well ... don't get me started on her.
She's a fraud. IF she got the twin towers right it was just a
freak chance.

If Sylvia Brown said today was Thursday I'd STILL doublecheck the calendar!

So if this asteroid broke up is it flying along at some extreme speed now or is it just kinda floating in an orbit......so maybe if we glide through its tail, the pieces will just fall out of the sky instead of slam us at 75,000 mph????

is it possible that the next comet approaching Earth is not a comet but a planet instead?... Planet X...niburu...The Red Star... i know i will get many replies from people telling me im a nutcase but thats ok because none of that matters...all that matters is that i truly believe in what's going on and i like to decipher truths from non-truths... just because many of you don't believe in something, that doesnt mean that its not true...it just means that you dont WANT to believe or you are too caught up in the lies you have been grown up to know... thats a big problem and i wish that there were more people willing to listen then to just begin judging people based on something they have to say or the way they look... but thats society for you. we supposively have the freedom of speech yet when i want to talk about something, people right away label me and if i were to go to the streets and talk about what i believe in id be labeled a psycho and placed in a mental institution... what kind of freedom is that? i saw on the news the other day from a press conference... someone started to tell their own side of whats going on and what they believe in and everyone just brushed him off and he was taken out of the room... thats pretty messed up...

we supposively have the right to vote...yet our votes dont count in the long run... the only votes that count are the votes from the electoral college... hmmm whats the point in voting then?

now that im done, id like to know what you all have to say now.

Originally posted by FlyersFan



She also said Bill Bradley would win the presidential election
in 2000. She also said ... well ... don't get me started on her.
She's a fraud. IF she got the twin towers right it was just a
freak chance.

If Sylvia Brown said today was Thursday I'd STILL doublecheck the calendar!

I know what you mean. She did nail it with the twin towers, that was my only worry here. Time will tell. I hope she's wrong. I know she has said a lot of nonsense too.

[edit on 18-5-2006 by dgtempe]

The threat from this object seems to have passed. The fragments that have already passed us were the potentially dangerous ones. Anything that hasn't passed us yet is most likely too small to be a threat or even to spot with the best telescopes. The Spitzer did about the best job at picking up the actual cloud of comet dust that is following all of the fragments.

At this point, it would seem hopeful to even get a decent metoer shower our of the dust around May 22-25 from this comet.

However, there have been some questions about the next known threats that are of concern. There is a large Asteroid (2004 XP14) that is expected to pass the earth at a distance of about 280,000 miles on July 3rd. This object has not been seen since last year, so expectations are based on its' last sighting more than a year ago. That would be of minor concern.

The biggest current threat that we know of faces us Friday April 13th, 2029 from Asteroid Apophis when it is expected to pass us at a mere 20,000 miles. That is incredibly difficult to calculate such a close pass 23 years from now. 20,000 miles is closer than most satellites that are in orbit of the earth. This is the biggest known threat in any of our lifetimes.

The chances are that if we are ever to be hit by an asteroid, that NASA will only know about it weeks before impact. That is not enough time to divert it or destroy it. The only thing that could be done at that point would be to evacuate the impact site and surrounding areas. Keep in mind that the chances of an object hitting us that could wipe out a continent are extremely small. The chances are much, much bigger that an object the size of large house could cause an impact and explosion about the size of Hiroshima. In such an event, the damage would be limited and the crater would be about the size of the famous crater in Arizona.

However, if by some chance Apophis were to impact the earth, the devastation would be quite broad. An impact in the ocean would be the worst destroying most coastal lands up to an elevation of 100 ft around the ocean that it would impact and much higher on the coastal regions near to the impact. On land, it would probably destroy a western state in the U.S. or a small country somewhere else in the world.

The movies always portray the "Big One". The reality is that a much smaller impact is thousands of times more probable.

As for an asteroid impactor in the near future that actually threatens life....there are none known.

Daveman,

Thank you so much for that explanation. I hope all will be well
now and we can resume our normal lives once again