NASA Shoots Down Comet Elenin Doomsday Predictions

coondoggie writes "The comet Elenin, which will pass by Earth October 16, has generated such an inordinate amount of doomsday reports from a number of different sources that NASA today issued a release meant to address a variety of them. To address the myriad concerns, NASA said its scientists compiled a list of the most popular questions it has received about Elenin."

Comments

That's so cool

[md65536]

They shot down a comet?! With what, lasers or nukes? (I didn't bother to RTFS)

Re:That's so cool

[Nanosphere]

They shot down a comet?! With what, lasers or nukes? (I didn't bother to RTFS)

DMCA takedown notice.

Re:That's so cool

[rubycodez]

Not an issue with asteroids, too many astronomers independent of the U.S. government would see such a thing. It's the same with the tin foil hatters claiming huge amounts of radiation are blowing across the USA from the west, too many people could detect such a thing (including me)

Re:That's so cool

[rubycodez]

On a more serious note, the term "black dwarf" can be used to describe a white dwarf star that has cooled to near absolute zero. There will not be such a thing in this universe for at least 10^15 years.

Re:That's so cool

[Thud457]

"Astronomer" Neil deGrasse Tyson

Like I'm really going to believe the dirty sonofabitch that assassinated Pluto.

Re:That's so cool

[kryliss]

~378,349,488 Football fields.....

Nothing but FUD

[milbournosphere]

Bruce Willis and the space shuttle would save us from any comet threat. What's that you say? The shuttle's been retired? Great, we're fucked.

Re:Nothing but FUD

[NonUniqueNickname]

Wait, what? They were supposed to keep the space shuttle and retire Bruce Willis. We are so fucked.

Commies in space!

[jhhl]

... as if there were no threat from a comet named "eLenin"!

Re:Commies in space!

[idontgno]

You missed the other, more significant part of the comet's name. "eleNIN"... Which means the Extinction-Level Event involves Nine Inch Nails.

I knew Trent Reznor was wrapped up in this Doomsday thing. I just knew it. This comet is His herald, a harbinger of a brave new world full of stuff from NIN songs. And videos. And maybe Quake-related weaponry.

Definitely something is going on

[mapkinase]

Otherwise why would they go at such length to debunk?

It cannot block Sun at this distance, so tt must be the brown dwarf...

Re:Definitely something is going on

[whiteboy86]

Doomsdayers are having a field day with this, look at this line (from the article) that really made me laugh.

I've heard about three days of darkness because of Comet Elenin. Will Elenin block out the Sun for three days?

The original article

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/comet_elenin.html

networkworld.com seems overloaded, and I probably don't want to see their ads anyway

Best quote from the Q&A

[SlashJoel]

"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."

FAQ from NASA

[bziman]

The actual FAQ from NASA was posted two weeks ago. Nice of someone to link to it.

Black Dwarf

[C_Kode]

And there is no such thing as a black dwarf

That's racist!

Car analogy

[Lord Grey]

Great answer (emphasis mine):

Can [Comet Elenin] influence us from where it is, or where it will be in the future? Can this celestial object cause shifting of the tides or even tectonic plates here on Earth?

... 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 (about 22 million miles)," said [Don Yeomans, a scientist at NASA JPL]. "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.

Oh, those wacky people at JPL. Always finding new ways to make Joe Average understand science.

self-promotion

[pz]

The submitting author's UID is coondoggie. The article's stated author is Michael Cooney. Perhaps we can have conflict-of-interest information more explicit, Taco, please?

Re:Huh?

[Bob the Super Hamste]

My understanding is that the Global Flood myth that is in almost every religion is there because these early cultures (some settlements going back as far as the end of the last ice age) tended to settle in the fertile flood plains. Now given that there are such things as 1 in 100, 500 and 1000 year floods which wipe out large areas today I can only imagine what those primitive people would have thought of a flood like when Glacial Lake Missoula would empty. A story like that would be carried down for generations by those who survived it passed on to other cultures and changed, because really how powerful is your god if they can only flood a river valley.

TDS

[ginbot462]

>> I knew Trent Reznor was wrapped up in this Doomsday thing.

Yes, this Mr Self Destruct has seen the earth is ripe with decay of sin. Hurt, he gave up on the terrible lie. The mark has been made upon this heresy and the big man with a gun will lead a march of the pigs into a warm place. This ruiner will burn the last wish. And underneath ti all, in the great below, we will find our happiness in slavery. ... I could keep going, but I think you get it. Hell, you write a apocalyptic movie just out of The Fragile titles.

>> And maybe Quake-related weaponry.

Yes, definitely that. The apocalypse will have a kick ass soundtrack and add the ability to jump.