Pray we don't.
Posted on 03/18/2016 9:33:28 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Two comets will zoom by Earth next week within a couple million miles — a close shave, astronomically speaking — and many astronomers hope the double fly-by will tell them whether the celestial bodies were once one.
At 8:14 a.m. Monday, comet 252P/LINEAR will pass within 3.3 million miles of Earth, making it the fifth-closest comet to skim by our planet.
Then at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, comet P/2016 BA14 will pass within 2.1 million miles — the third-closest comet since 1770, according to NASA officials.
...
“It could be by some amazing coincidence that we are wrong, but my best guess is these two have to be related,” Kelley told the Herald.
Kelley has booked the Hubble Space Telescope for nine hours to observe 252P as it zooms by.
...
These close passes are “rare and unusual,” astronomers said, supporting the idea the two had split at some point — a common occurrence for comets. 252P was discovered by MIT astronomers in 2000, while BA14 was first spotted from the Hawaiian observatory Pan-STARRS.
Paul Chodas, manager at NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Objects, said, “We know comets are relatively fragile things. ... During a previous pass through the inner-solar system, or during a distant fly-by of Jupiter, a chunk that we now know of as BA14 might have broken off of 252P.”
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonherald.com ...
Two comets enter, ...
Damn Global Warming!!
Great reference. LOL!
Is this a joke about tail?
*ping*
Hope they land in DC!!!!
Will we get a meteor shower out of it?
Yes, this is fascinating - two green comets which were probably pieces of one comet in the past, and though small they are coming very close.
I have been trying to find out since I first read of this, and am hoping someone out there may know:
* Is this the first time they have crossed nearby, when was the previous time? During the Roman times? Or more recent? Or so long ago we really have no idea?
* Being there are two, is there any chance one would pull or set the other off it’s current path? Could one or the other split again?
Being discovered on the Ides of March, what do these comets portend?
Another question...are there pieces of the shattered comet which have not yet been spotted, and the trajectory of which is therefore unknown?
LOL.
The nuclei of comets are generally quite small - on the order of 2-3 km. Their masses are correspondingly low. The gravitational influence of one such body upon another body a few million kms away (which is incredibly close in astronomical terms) is virtually nil. Multiple fragmentation is of course possible.
Another question...are there pieces of the shattered comet which have not yet been spotted, and the trajectory of which is therefore unknown?
Quite possibly. After all: How could we know that that was not the case?
Regards,
Big rocks flying around in space, imagine that!
TEOTWAWKI, and maybe our successors will get it right next time.
Erotic heavenly bodies, who’d a thunk it?
Pray we don't.
Why do they arrive just before a very significant Jewish observance might be a better question with better answers.
Is Iran in the news? Israel?
Mon- comet 252P/LINEAR
Tue- comet P/2016 BA14
Wed- Fast of Esther
Thu- Purim
Fri- Shushan Purim
Sat- Sabbath
Hot Fudge Sundae comes on a Tuesdae (and a Mondae) this week.
Love, Jerry
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