Comet Elenin is a low mass object! | |
Instance User ID: 1452693 Australia 07/09/2011 04:15 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 1459357 United States 07/09/2011 04:17 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Do you subscribe to the electric comet theory? Have you observed stereo and soho images when comets pass near the sun? What are your predictions for sun activity when elenin passes directly between the sun and earth? I think this is more worthy research than mass calculations. Your mass calculations are in response to the pole shifters I presume. |
Astronut (OP) Senior Forum Moderator User ID: 922113 United States 07/09/2011 04:17 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Are there any plans for the glp scope to look at this thing so we can put it to bed once and for all? Quoting: InstanceCertainly. For what it's worth, I can't even observe it right now; nothing but constant cloud cover in the evenings here. It's probably nearly as bad at the observatory. Summer is the "off season" for astronomy in florida. My club doesn't even attempt to do public viewings during the summer months. Elenin sets early too, and earlier each night. Soon it will not be observable for some time as it hangs out by the sun in the sky until fall. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 1398416 United Kingdom 07/09/2011 04:17 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 1236429 United States 07/09/2011 04:18 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | You see, I wonder why you are so determined to convince us nutjobs that Elenin is nothing - one would figure an astronomer hobbyist like yourself would prefer to hangout with "more rational" folks on the astronomy forums. So why the interest in what we have to say -after all we are just doomer morans right? This is an honest question. |
Instance User ID: 1452693 Australia 07/09/2011 04:19 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Are there any plans for the glp scope to look at this thing so we can put it to bed once and for all? Quoting: InstanceCertainly. For what it's worth, I can't even observe it right now; nothing but constant cloud cover in the evenings here. It's probably nearly as bad at the observatory. Summer is the "off season" for astronomy in florida. My club doesn't even attempt to do public viewings during the summer months. Elenin sets early too, and earlier each night. Soon it will not be observable for some time as it hangs out by the sun in the sky until fall. *sigh* ah, well not long till the Elenintard roast anyhow. n·stance/ˈinstəns/Noun 1. An example or single occurrence of something: "an instance of corruption" |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 1416224 United States 07/09/2011 04:19 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Astronut (OP) Senior Forum Moderator User ID: 922113 United States 07/09/2011 04:21 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Do you subscribe to the electric comet theory? Quoting: Anonymous Coward 1459357I don't, but I'd really like to not derail this thread into an EU debate. There are people literally fleeing to the mountains because they think this comet is actually a massive planet or brown dwarf. On that note, amusingly I found that the asteroid would have flat-out impacted Elenin had the comet been a brown dwarf. |
Instance User ID: 1452693 Australia 07/09/2011 04:22 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | If after November 2011 nothing happens and Elenin passes by with nothing much happening I will agree that I was wrong about you. Until then I'll be skeptical of what you say as I'm not entirely convinced of your motives in all these posts you do. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 1236429You see, I wonder why you are so determined to convince us nutjobs that Elenin is nothing - one would figure an astronomer hobbyist like yourself would prefer to hangout with "more rational" folks on the astronomy forums. So why the interest in what we have to say -after all we are just doomer morans right? This is an honest question. There are other forms of doom you know, some of which are coming along nicely, while some of us are staring at the sky wearing tinfoil nightcaps. n·stance/ˈinstəns/Noun 1. An example or single occurrence of something: "an instance of corruption" |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 1381523 Moldova 07/09/2011 04:26 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 1381523 Moldova 07/09/2011 04:28 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | If after November 2011 nothing happens and Elenin passes by with nothing much happening I will agree that I was wrong about you. Until then I'll be skeptical of what you say as I'm not entirely convinced of your motives in all these posts you do. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 1236429You see, I wonder why you are so determined to convince us nutjobs that Elenin is nothing - one would figure an astronomer hobbyist like yourself would prefer to hangout with "more rational" folks on the astronomy forums. So why the interest in what we have to say -after all we are just doomer morans right? This is an honest question. because here he feels clever and all. In a more rational ambience he will be nothing and no one. The Ego searches a place where it feels superior and dominant. That's easy psychology. |
Tiger Maple User ID: 1433171 United States 07/09/2011 04:30 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 1328703 United States 07/09/2011 04:31 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Astronut (OP) Senior Forum Moderator User ID: 922113 United States 07/09/2011 04:36 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | If after November 2011 nothing happens and Elenin passes by with nothing much happening I will agree that I was wrong about you. Until then I'll be skeptical of what you say as I'm not entirely convinced of your motives in all these posts you do. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 1236429You see, I wonder why you are so determined to convince us nutjobs that Elenin is nothing - one would figure an astronomer hobbyist like yourself would prefer to hangout with "more rational" folks on the astronomy forums. So why the interest in what we have to say -after all we are just doomer morans right? This is an honest question. I do hang out with more rational people on astronomy forums as well, but believe it or not I get asked questions about these kinds of things in real life. People who know me know I'm deeply into amateur astronomy, so I end up answering questions about everything from planet x to physical pole shifts. Participating here familiarizes me with the claims so that I can not only debunk them off the top of my head, but explain the details of the claim as well. Often times the person is asking because they're undecided and only recently heard about the claim and may even be confused about it (mixing magnetic pole shift facts with physical pole shift woo, for instance). If I didn't already know what the conspiracy theory was all about I wouldn't be able to properly answer their questions. As a side benefit, putting these claims to the test like this allows me to practice astronomy in ways I normally wouldn't have bothered to. I find it immensely enjoyable to crunch the numbers in cases like this and see how what seems like only a small interaction would actually produce noticeable perturbations, and then cross reference that back to actual astrometric analysis and see what the situation is in reality. It provides opportunities to see the elegant way in which the solar system continues to function. To use a cliche, I enjoy watching the dance of the planets, this just gives me a reason however silly to actually measure each movement. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 1457786 Canada 07/09/2011 04:38 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Do you subscribe to the electric comet theory? Quoting: Anonymous Coward 1459357I don't, but I'd really like to not derail this thread into an EU debate. Well, that totally explains your stubborn attitude (read: intolerance) then. You are looking at all of this strictly through the eyes of conventional science. In reality, conventional science does a great job at calibrating and aiming telescopes. As for explaining what those telescopes actually view, well, conventional science is worth fuck-all in that arena. I could understand if you presented your "opinion" as precisely that - an opinion, an alternative view, one of many. Stating it over and over again as FACT, well, that smacks of the same blind arrogance as the rest of modern, conventional science. That same science, by the way, which keeps being proven wrong each day. One day in the future, perhaps, you will realise how wrong conventional science has been. You will realise how much time you lost following conventional science. Time, which you could have better used to explain all what you see out there. Good luck. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 1380013 United States 07/09/2011 04:39 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 1236429 United States 07/09/2011 04:44 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Quoting: Anonymous Coward 1236429 I do hang out with more rational people on astronomy forums as well, but believe it or not I get asked questions about these kinds of things in real life. People who know me know I'm deeply into amateur astronomy, so I end up answering questions about everything from planet x to physical pole shifts. Participating here familiarizes me with the claims so that I can not only debunk them off the top of my head, but explain the details of the claim as well. Often times the person is asking because they're undecided and only recently heard about the claim and may even be confused about it (mixing magnetic pole shift facts with physical pole shift woo, for instance). If I didn't already know what the conspiracy theory was all about I wouldn't be able to properly answer their questions. As a side benefit, putting these claims to the test like this allows me to practice astronomy in ways I normally wouldn't have bothered to. I find it immensely enjoyable to crunch the numbers in cases like this and see how what seems like only a small interaction would actually produce noticeable perturbations, and then cross reference that back to actual astrometric analysis and see what the situation is in reality. It provides opportunities to see the elegant way in which the solar system continues to function. To use a cliche, I enjoy watching the dance of the planets, this just gives me a reason however silly to actually measure each movement. Fair enough. Well, I hope you are correct and we are making much ado about nothing. And if you are correct, a lot of us will owe you an apology. Thx. |
Astronut (OP) Senior Forum Moderator User ID: 922113 United States 07/09/2011 04:45 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Would you please explain what you might know about the "South Pole Telescope", is there really virtue in having a high-end telescope in such a location? Quoting: Tiger MapleWould something down there be for otherwise inaccessible viewing angles or for clarity of viewing? There is virtue in it, but it's not about angles for viewing. Any telescope anywhere in the southern hemisphere has access to the entire southern celestial sphere, and from mid latitudes even the south celestial pole is well above the horizon. The air in the antarctic is low on water vapor so it provides better transparency for submillimeter/microwave telescopes like the SPT, and the stability of the air is also beneficial. SPT is not an infrared telescope, it's actually akin to a radio telescope, only this one specializes in microwave wavelengths. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 1460501 United States 07/09/2011 04:46 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Anyone remember this thread? Quoting: AstronutThread: Elenin fails to perturb a small asteroid at 0.002 AUs distance Well it turns out we can use that encounter to establish a strict upper limit for the mass of Elenin. And it turns out that limit is rather low. How low? It's lower than the mass a 4 km wide object would have with the low density of a comet (0.6 g/cm^3). Leonid Elenin himself also observed that same encounter between 1999 RQ176 and C/2010 X1. [link to spaceobs.org] His image is not only very high quality, but it was also taken even closer to the moment of closest approach between the two objects. Astrometric analysis agrees perfectly with my own previous analysis that the asteroid was still right where it should be and not visibly perturbed at all. Its orbit predicts it should have been at the following coordinates at 3:50 UT on May 21st when his image was taken: 10h 27m 43.65s, +08d 08' 42.1" Astrometry reveals that the asteroid's detected position was 10h 27m 44s, +08d 08' 42" [link to flickr.com] So just how perturbed could the asteroid be and still not be "visibly" perturbed? Well, at the 1.8 AU distance Elenin and the asteroid were at that day, a spatial resolution of 2.92 arcseconds per pixel would show any change in the asteroid's position greater than about 3,900 km. That may seem forgiving, but when you actually test and see what various mass numbers for Elenin would do to the asteroid's position you start to realize it's not forgiving at all. If Elenin had a mass equivalent to an object so much as 4 km wide with a density of an average comet around 0.6 gm/cm^3, it would still have perturbed the asteroid's position by about 100,000 km (0.1 million km), which would have thrown the asteroid's position in the image off significantly: [link to i319.photobucket.com] I started off with a 5 km wide object with a density of 0.8 g/cm^3 and saw even more massive perturbations than this. Right away I knew I was onto a way to firmly establish an upper bound for Elenin's mass. The example shown above at 4km, 0.6 g/cm^3 starts to approach a very stringent upper-limit of Elenin's mass. We can now say that comet Elenin's mass is less than than that of a 4 km wide comet at a density of 0.6 g/cm^3. Such an object would have noticeably perturbed 1999 RQ176. It's probably even smaller than Leonid himself originally estimated. |
Astronut (OP) Senior Forum Moderator User ID: 922113 United States 07/09/2011 04:47 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Do you subscribe to the electric comet theory? Quoting: Anonymous Coward 1459357I don't, but I'd really like to not derail this thread into an EU debate. Well, that totally explains your stubborn attitude (read: intolerance) then. You are looking at all of this strictly through the eyes of conventional science. In reality, conventional science does a great job at calibrating and aiming telescopes. As for explaining what those telescopes actually view, well, conventional science is worth fuck-all in that arena. I could understand if you presented your "opinion" as precisely that - an opinion, an alternative view, one of many. Stating it over and over again as FACT, well, that smacks of the same blind arrogance as the rest of modern, conventional science. That same science, by the way, which keeps being proven wrong each day. One day in the future, perhaps, you will realise how wrong conventional science has been. You will realise how much time you lost following conventional science. Time, which you could have better used to explain all what you see out there. Good luck. Thank you for not respecting my wishes. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 1442597 United States 07/09/2011 04:48 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 1460501 United States 07/09/2011 04:49 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | The fact that Astro fights this more than any other thread leads me to believe we ARE on to something. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 1380013So A, if you are trying to put this to bed, how about going to another website to convince someone else nothing is going on ok? Great, thanks. Bingo , he is showing his true, colors and convincing no one. |
resistor User ID: 1337378 Belgium 07/09/2011 04:50 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Are there any plans for the glp scope to look at this thing so we can put it to bed once and for all? Quoting: InstanceCertainly. For what it's worth, I can't even observe it right now; nothing but constant cloud cover in the evenings here. It's probably nearly as bad at the observatory. Summer is the "off season" for astronomy in florida. My club doesn't even attempt to do public viewings during the summer months. Elenin sets early too, and earlier each night. Soon it will not be observable for some time as it hangs out by the sun in the sky until fall. Yeah it's probably difficult to view right now but nasa will attempt to do so with soho and stereo i believe it will start from 31 july till 12 august or so spaceobs is telling us..... Have to check soho and stereo to see if it's truth.... Anyway here is the claim made by spaceobs about nasa and comet elenin. [link to spaceobs.org] As the world surrenders to tyranny will you do the same thing? Will you be able to stand your ground without faith? Think about it! |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 1381523 Moldova 07/09/2011 05:01 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | For a fact I believe the crop circles and I do not believe the Astrobot. Crop circles have kept our attention with mayan symbols as well, so they must tell us that Mayans were very serious about their discoveries and therefore 2011/2012 end cycle. You can't say that 2+2=4 and then suddenly 3+5=10, or 20, or a buffalo. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 1450550 United States 07/09/2011 05:03 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | However, what bothers me is that maybe Elenin is an elaborate hoax, as someone suggested, and that the earthquakes are man made after all, and Elenin is just an Escape Goat. |
Astronut (OP) Senior Forum Moderator User ID: 922113 United States 07/09/2011 05:09 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 1460759 Germany 07/09/2011 05:10 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 1442597 United States 07/09/2011 05:11 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | March, Ask An Astrobiologist says this Question So what the deal with comet elenin, there does not seem to be too much credible information. Everyone seems to be freaking out about it, but no one even knows how big it is. Does this comet pose a threat and what is its size and nature? AND I have read about comet Elenin and how some nasa people want to keep it a secret. what are the chances of it coming to earth and what threat does it bring with it, and has this comet got anything to do with 2012 hoax? AND Elinin is only .117 au from earth on mar 11,2011. From march 8 to mar 15, 2011, what are the chances that Elinin either impacts us, or gets close enough to cause a major catastrophy. Please be honest. I have been receiving many questions about Comet Elenin. Many of them refer to the outrageous lies on some conspiracy theory websites, which are amplified by people who seem to think this comet is highly unusual. It is not unusual, and it is not a threat to Earth. See the Wikipedia article on this comet [ [link to en.wikipedia.org] for more information. C2010 X1 Elenin (to give its full name) is a long-period comet, which takes about 10,000 years to complete one orbit around the Sun. It was discovered with a robotic telescope in New Mexico on 10 December 2010 by Russian amateur astronomer Leonid Elenin. When comets or asteroids are first discovered, their orbits are quite uncertain; usually it takes several months of observations to firmly establish the orbit. Elenin’s perihelion (closest to the Sun) is in early September 2011 at a distance from the Sun of 40-45 million miles. It will be closest to Earth on about 16 October, at a distance of about 21 million miles, which is nearly a hundred times farther than the Moon. The comet never comes close to the Earth, but it is expected to be visible in binoculars during August and October. Part of the Internet chatter concerns its size. Comets are exceedingly small and enveloped in a tenuous cloud of gas and dust, so the only way to be sure of their actual dimensions is to visit with a spacecraft. Half a dozen comets have been the target of spacecraft missions, and all of them (even Comet Halley) are less than 10 km in diameter. There is no reason to think Elenin is any different. This means its mass is less than one billionth the mass of the Earth. Needless to say, we will not be aware of the tiny gravitational pull from Elenin. In spite of these simple facts, some websites (such as godlikeproductions) are making wild claims that Elenin will hit the Earth, or disturb our orbit, or cause tides, or interact with our magnetic field. Such claims are pure fiction. One of the worst examples is a video that someone posted on the NASAbuzzroom website that claims that the magnetic field of the comet will cause a large shift in the rotation axis of the Earth and produce mega-earthquakes on March 15, 2011. It is hard to imagine anyone would take this seriously. Comets don’t have magnetic fields, and magnetic fields can’t change the rotation axis or cause earthquakes no matter how large they are. Adding to the craziness is a claim that this same comet caused the Earth’s axis to shift by 3 degrees in February 2010 and caused the Chile Earthquake. These are simply lies; the comet was far away a year ago, and there was no change whatever in Earth’s rotation axis. The Chile earthquake was a normal slippage in an active fault that has produced many previous earthquakes, including the one witnessed by Charles Darwin in 1835. Please remember that just because someone says he or she is from NASA doesn’t make it true. Many people who post YouTube videos lie about their affiliation. Incidentally, only NASA is allowed to use the NASA logo, the blue circle with the word NASA and a satellite orbiting around it. David Morrison Astrobiology Senior Scientist March 1, 2011 |
resistor User ID: 1337378 Belgium 07/09/2011 05:19 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | March, Ask An Astrobiologist says this Quoting: IceQuestion So what the deal with comet elenin, there does not seem to be too much credible information. Everyone seems to be freaking out about it, but no one even knows how big it is. Does this comet pose a threat and what is its size and nature? AND I have read about comet Elenin and how some nasa people want to keep it a secret. what are the chances of it coming to earth and what threat does it bring with it, and has this comet got anything to do with 2012 hoax? AND Elinin is only .117 au from earth on mar 11,2011. From march 8 to mar 15, 2011, what are the chances that Elinin either impacts us, or gets close enough to cause a major catastrophy. Please be honest. I have been receiving many questions about Comet Elenin. Many of them refer to the outrageous lies on some conspiracy theory websites, which are amplified by people who seem to think this comet is highly unusual. It is not unusual, and it is not a threat to Earth. See the Wikipedia article on this comet [ [link to en.wikipedia.org] for more information. C2010 X1 Elenin (to give its full name) is a long-period comet, which takes about 10,000 years to complete one orbit around the Sun. It was discovered with a robotic telescope in New Mexico on 10 December 2010 by Russian amateur astronomer Leonid Elenin. When comets or asteroids are first discovered, their orbits are quite uncertain; usually it takes several months of observations to firmly establish the orbit. Elenin’s perihelion (closest to the Sun) is in early September 2011 at a distance from the Sun of 40-45 million miles. It will be closest to Earth on about 16 October, at a distance of about 21 million miles, which is nearly a hundred times farther than the Moon. The comet never comes close to the Earth, but it is expected to be visible in binoculars during August and October. Part of the Internet chatter concerns its size. Comets are exceedingly small and enveloped in a tenuous cloud of gas and dust, so the only way to be sure of their actual dimensions is to visit with a spacecraft. Half a dozen comets have been the target of spacecraft missions, and all of them (even Comet Halley) are less than 10 km in diameter. There is no reason to think Elenin is any different. This means its mass is less than one billionth the mass of the Earth. Needless to say, we will not be aware of the tiny gravitational pull from Elenin. In spite of these simple facts, some websites (such as godlikeproductions) are making wild claims that Elenin will hit the Earth, or disturb our orbit, or cause tides, or interact with our magnetic field. Such claims are pure fiction. One of the worst examples is a video that someone posted on the NASAbuzzroom website that claims that the magnetic field of the comet will cause a large shift in the rotation axis of the Earth and produce mega-earthquakes on March 15, 2011. It is hard to imagine anyone would take this seriously. Comets don’t have magnetic fields, and magnetic fields can’t change the rotation axis or cause earthquakes no matter how large they are. Adding to the craziness is a claim that this same comet caused the Earth’s axis to shift by 3 degrees in February 2010 and caused the Chile Earthquake. These are simply lies; the comet was far away a year ago, and there was no change whatever in Earth’s rotation axis. The Chile earthquake was a normal slippage in an active fault that has produced many previous earthquakes, including the one witnessed by Charles Darwin in 1835. Please remember that just because someone says he or she is from NASA doesn’t make it true. Many people who post YouTube videos lie about their affiliation. Incidentally, only NASA is allowed to use the NASA logo, the blue circle with the word NASA and a satellite orbiting around it. David Morrison Astrobiology Senior Scientist March 1, 2011 For the last time nasa is not keeping this a secret! They are planning to view it with soho and stereo how on earth could this be a secret? Go to spaceobs.org for more info. Even it's discoverer dismisses elenin to be what the rumours says. It wen't through the asteroid belt and didn't drag jack so it has no mass infact no known comet ever had any sort of mass. It's like a few km big the rest the 100000km in diameter is just dust cloud. The only thing that could happen and i'm carefully saying "could" is the explosion of a small percentage of it's mass just like comet 17p holmes did in 2007. Which offered a nice spectacle to astronomers around the world since it brightened a lot. But other than that As the world surrenders to tyranny will you do the same thing? Will you be able to stand your ground without faith? Think about it! |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 1381523 Moldova 07/09/2011 05:19 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | For a fact I believe the crop circles and I do not believe the Astrobot. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 1381523Well, I'm telling the truth, so you're clearly making a mistake. If you are so sure about it you are double suspicious. We will just see how true you are in a bout 3 months time which is very little. |