Comet Elenin Could Be Disintegrating

[Believer]

Comet Elenin Could Be Disintegrating

http://www.universetoday.com/88494/comet-elenin-could-be-disintigrating/

Astronomers monitoring Comet Elenin have noticed the comet has decreased in brightness the past week, and the coma is now elongating and diffusing. Some astronomers predict the comet will disintegrate and not survive perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun.

On August 19, a massive solar flare and coronal mass ejection hit the comet, which may have been the beginning of the end for the much ballyhooed lump of ice and dirt.

“We’ve been following it in the STEREO spacecraft images and a number of amateurs have been following it in their telescopes,” said Australian amateur astronomer Ian Musgrave, author of the Astroblog website. “Shortly after the coronal mass ejection the comet flared up and you could see some beautiful details in the tail, with the tail was twisting about in the solar wind. But shortly after that Earth- bound amateurs reported a huge decrease in the intensity of the comet. We think it may presage a falling apart of the comet.”

One journalist joked that maybe Comet Elenin just couldn’t take all the doomsday talk and publicity.

“It really has been a beautiful little comet and it deserves a better fate than to be overhyped by doom-sayers,” said Musgrave.

Elenin is a long period comet originating from the outer edges of our solar system, and Musgrave noted that comets coming from the Oort cloud which are making their first pass through the solar system tend to be under-performers in terms of brightness. “They don’t brighten as quickly as comets that come around more than once,” he said, “and in looking at the relationship between the brightness and the distance from the Sun, we find empirically that comets that brighten on roughly the same speed as Elenin tend to be likely to fall apart at perihelion.”

However, Musgrave added, each comet is unique. “Some comets will survive and some won’t. The fact that this comet decreased in brightness after the CME, possibly indicates that the comet will not survive. Another possibility is that merely the CME wiped away the coma — the bright cloud of particles around the comet — and the volatiles of the comet might take awhile to come back and recreate the coma, if it does survive.”

Elenin’s mass is smaller than average and its trajectory will take it no closer than 34 million km (21 million miles) of Earth as it circles the Sun. It will make its closest approach to Earth on October 16th, but be closest to the Sun on Sept. 10.

continues and includes pics...

[Psalm 51:17]

I didn't post the youtube video here b/c the maker of it dropped the **** bomb a few times - anyhow, go to youtube and do a search for "elenin update", and chose the one titled "turning left"(or something like that). Apparently, elenin is making a LEFT TURN toward the sun.

No, I'm not saying this video is accurate, but this guy, who's been observing this for quite some time, makes some good observations on it.

[seekingtheanswers]

hmmm....i thought it got gobbled up by a solar flare or something like that as it passed the sun....haven't been keeping up with it as alot of new agers have been on that....whatever they esteem i try to stay away from.

[Mark]

NASA Evidence Suggest Comet Elenin Split In Two After Being Hit By Directed 'Shockwaves"

Update: Comet Elenin mystery took another twist as amateur observers Kelly and Rob Collins posted images from NASA's STEREO system showing the Comet splitting into two as a result of shockwaves from an immense explosion. STEREO stands for Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, a NASA project to study solar activity and its effect on the earth. Sydneystargazers.com reported that Leonid Elenin had confirmed the Comet's disintegration on his own web site spaceobs.org . This information, and whether the web site actually belongs to Leonid Elenin, have not been independently verified. There has been no announcement or update by NASA on Comet Elenin. If the Comet has indeed been destroyed, this raises the questions of how, by what, or even by whom.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/311009