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NASA Shoots Down Comet Elenin Doomsday Predictions

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the phew-i-was-worried dept.

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."

8 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. Nothing but FUD by milbournosphere · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.

    1. Re:Nothing but FUD by NonUniqueNickname · · Score: 4, Funny

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

  2. Commies in space! by jhhl · · Score: 4, Funny

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

    --
    -- Real Stupidity is the Artificial Intelligence of the 21st century
    1. Re:Commies in space! by idontgno · · Score: 3, Funny

      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.

      --
      Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
  3. The original article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    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

  4. Re:That's so cool by Nanosphere · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    DMCA takedown notice.

  5. FAQ from NASA by bziman · · Score: 4, Informative

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

  6. Re:That's so cool by rubycodez · · Score: 3, Informative

    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)