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Comet Catalina To Pass By Earth For the Final Time

Posted by samzenpus on from the fare-thee-well dept.

StartsWithABang writes: Originating from the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud, comets are generally thought of as periodic objects, with their initial trajectories having been perturbed by either Neptune, another distant object or a passing star or rogue planet. But most comets aren't periodic; they're transient instead, where a trip into the inner Solar System gives them additional gravitational perturbations, causing them to either fly into the Sun or gain enough kinetic energy to escape entirely. This latter fate is the case for Comet Catalina, which reaches perihelion on November 15th and then heads out of the Solar System after putting on one final show for observers on Earth.

54 comments

  1. in b4... by dirtysnow · · Score: 1

    its the catalina fucking comet mixer

    1. Re:in b4... by Captain+Splendid · · Score: 1

      "its the fucking catalina comet mixer"

      FTFY

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      Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
    2. Re:in b4... by jason.sweet · · Score: 1

      A valiant effort, but no...
      "it's the fucking catalina comet mixer"

    3. Re:in b4... by Captain+Splendid · · Score: 1

      Hey man, I was only correcting the order. Spelling and grammar fixes cost extra.

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      Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
  2. Collision risk wise... by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 2

    good riddance!

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  3. Halley's Comet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why doesn't this happen to Halley's Comet? It gets perturbed by the gravity from the gas giants, yet has managed to retain a period of 74-79 years since 240 BC. That's a lot of trips through the solar system. Because it's a short period comet, it spends more time around the gas giants than a long period comet. That should subject it to more gravitational perturbations, but it's still remained very periodic. Why is that?

    1. Re: Halley's Comet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's a chaotic system. The odds of the gravitational perturbation increasing the speed of the comet (and by extension, pushing it away and increasing its period) aren't much different than the odds of the perturbation decreasing it. And the effect is small, that a given orbit might bring a comet that has near escape velocity over the edge (as apparently is happening here) but Halley's Comet has nowhere near that.

    2. Re:Halley's Comet by dotancohen · · Score: 4, Informative

      Why doesn't this happen to Halley's Comet? It gets perturbed by the gravity from the gas giants, yet has managed to retain a period of 74-79 years since 240 BC. That's a lot of trips through the solar system. Because it's a short period comet, it spends more time around the gas giants than a long period comet. That should subject it to more gravitational perturbations, but it's still remained very periodic. Why is that?

      Luck, mostly. An object will either be expelled or gravitationally (tidally) torn apart by the sun after a few trips around the solar system, with an exponential distribution describing how many trips it makes. As with all exponential distributions, the curve flattens out to the right, and if any particular object has just the right orbital parameters to make i.e. 10 or 20 or 50 passes, then it's pretty much fallen (by luck) into the sweet spot of orbital resonances to keep making more passes. The chances are astronomically low that any particular object will have this luck, but there is a huge number of objects out there, so some do beat the odds.

      Halley's comet is simply one of the few that beat the odds.

      --
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    3. Re:Halley's Comet by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

      Halley's comet is simply one of the few that beat the odds.

      . . . so if we could just figure out how Halley's comet would bet on Fantasy Football . . . we'd be all set for life!

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    4. Re:Halley's Comet by asylumx · · Score: 4, Funny

      Psh, everyone knows fantasy football is "skill based" ;-)

    5. Re:Halley's Comet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As long as we all agree that the "skill" is in "guessing" when a player will have a knee, ankle, or shoulder injury. Or when he will savagely attack his significant other, crash his car and get charged with DWI, etc.. As their stats drop to zero, those with the "skill" in guessing when those events will happen rack in the money.

    6. Re:Halley's Comet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because Catalina's Comet, as an Oort's cloud object, had energy almost sufficient to escape the potential well of Sun's gravity, to begin with, and even small perturbations were able to break the camel's neck , so to say. The Halley's Comet, OTOH, would need massive amounts of energy to do the same, amounts that it has nowhere to get.

    7. Re:Halley's Comet by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      Just not in NY or NV...

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      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    8. Re:Halley's Comet by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      You know, if office workers paid as much attention to their 401Ks as they do fantasy football, we wouldn't have a retirement crisis...

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    9. Re:Halley's Comet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That luck is why we don't see such a comet in the sky every month. There just aren't many of them, as most have long since been captured / ejected / ripped to shreds.

    10. Re:Halley's Comet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As with all exponential distributions, the curve flattens out to the right, and if any particular object has just the right orbital parameters to make i.e. 10 or 20 or 50 passes, then it's pretty much fallen (by luck) into the sweet spot of orbital resonances to keep making more passes.

      No, that is not how exponential distribution works at all. For an exponential distribution, it would be the same probability every single orbit. You would need a different distribution with a longer tail to describe something like that, as distributions like say the Cauchy, have a long tail that would basically give that there will always be a few comets left over because they have been in an effectively stable resonance.

    11. Re:Halley's Comet by nullchar · · Score: 1

      #1. Gamify Investing
      #2. Profit

  4. Summary doesn't address the most important aspect by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 3, Funny

    The summary leaves out the most important part of this whole thing, the part that is most critical to answer: what kind of shirt was the spokesman wearing when he made the announcement? We can't possibly evaluate if this is OK unless we know. Is there any word?

    --
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  5. Note to the RIAA and MPAA by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 4, Funny

    We have been informed that Catalina's Comet is the home of a major warez site. We recommend that you get over to it immediately to sort it out. We'll keep a slot open for you on the comet's return.

  6. NO Forbes links, please by TheDarkMaster · · Score: 1

    Please never put links to sites that require you to be looking at an advertising page or similar before you can go to the content that really interests you.

    --
    Religion: The greatest weapon of mass destruction of all time
    1. Re:NO Forbes links, please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a StartsWithABang submission. He's paid by Forbes to submit; how much of a cut samzenpus gets is unknown.
      But if it has to be a relevant Ad, (I didn't see it, just the countdown timer...), why not one for Catalina Yachts? The Frank Butler era is over, and Catalinas are no longer floating Winnebagos. (His last design was the 1996 Catalina 34 MKII; it went out of production in 1999.)

    2. Re:NO Forbes links, please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Forbes link takes me to "http://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/" and displays a completely blank page.

      A blank page helps nobody, neither the reader nor Forbes. It merely indicates to everyone that the Forbes devs are clueless morons who can't display even static text without Javascript.

      Forbes links have no place on Slashdot, least of all in astronomy for which Forbes is completely irrelevant anyway, even if it weren't displaying a totally blank page.

    3. Re:NO Forbes links, please by GTRacer · · Score: 1

      I run Chrome with Matrix (that's meant to be a mu at the beginning) and when I hit the link, got the same blank screen. Checking Matrix, all I see at first are some pending Forbes subdomains. Enabling those gave me the "Quote of the day" interstitial and a working link to the article. And a dozen or more ad-farm domains which are blocked.

      Having used NoScript on Firefox, I resisted Chrome until I got this new laptop and really wanted the "full Google." Matrix is great but it seems way fussier in its blocking, But I've also seen how some ad sites will effectively block first-party rendering unless they're enabled or completely eliminated...

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  7. Re:Summary doesn't address the most important aspe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Slashdot's SJW-article day is tomorrow.

  8. Re:Summary doesn't address the most important aspe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The summary leaves out the most important part of this whole thing, the part that is most critical to answer: what kind of shirt was the spokesman wearing when he made the announcement? We can't possibly evaluate if this is OK unless we know. Is there any word?

    This isn't Major Tom...

  9. Yet another NASA lie. by Nutria · · Score: 1

    This is really Planet Nibiru coming to invade us with their lizard-men!!!

    --
    "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
  10. Pity... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wish we had developed a tractor beam...

    1. Re:Pity... by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      Let's launch a mission with an ion thruster, maybe we can save this comet and eventually capture it for ice mining in orbit!

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  11. Re:Summary doesn't address the most important aspe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The summary leaves out the most important part of this whole thing, the part that is most critical to answer: what kind of shirt was the spokesman wearing when he made the announcement? We can't possibly evaluate if this is OK unless we know. Is there any word?

    Actually it's more important that he was wearing tan pants....if so, it's DEFINITELY the truth!

  12. Can't we land anything on it? by behrooz0az · · Score: 1

    I'm not any kind of physicist or astro. Can't we use comets like this to send objects out of the solar system? Things like the voyager 2?

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    1. Re:Can't we land anything on it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      We'd have to grab it or land on it...which means we'd have to match its speed...which means we'd be going fast enough to do this anyway, so why bother grabbing a comet?

    2. Re:Can't we land anything on it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'm not any kind of physicist or astro.
      Can't we use comets like this to send objects out of the solar system? Things like the voyager 2?

      No.

    3. Re:Can't we land anything on it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only if there's a Vulcan ship observing nearby.

    4. Re:Can't we land anything on it? by Crowd+Computing · · Score: 3, Interesting

      We'd have to grab it or land on it...which means we'd have to match its speed...which means we'd be going fast enough to do this anyway, so why bother grabbing a comet?

      This makes Newtonian sense, however I can think of one scenario where we don't need speed up to the comet. Place the spacecraft on its path. Basically instead of trying to catch the comet, we let the comet catch up with us. Not recommended for humans or delicate equipment.

    5. Re:Can't we land anything on it? by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      This comet is moving at 46 km/s:
      http://www.heavens-above.com/c...
      Earth is moving at 30 km/s, so that is a difference of 16 km/s, or approximately 36k miles/h. Good luck making anything that can survive that kind of impact.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    6. Re:Can't we land anything on it? by GTRacer · · Score: 1

      I've got a Nokia 3310 I could spare...

      --
      Defending IP by destroying access to it? That makes sense, RIAA/MPAA. Go to the corner until you can play nice!
  13. Re:crocodiles can be bribed too by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

    So would this be the first time that crocodiles have been used to guard a comet?

  14. Goodbye my friend. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    As you drift out into the darkness of the unknown, my solitary friend, I will lay here without you - wishing I could undertake your journey through the great void of space towards distant stars. I wonder, dear comet, what would you think?

    I love you.

  15. Catalina we hardly knew ya by fredrated · · Score: 1

    *Sniff*

  16. Pretty please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Take me with you Catlina. I don't want to live in this solar system anymore.

  17. The Ramans do everything in threes. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The Ramans do everything in threes.

  18. Re:Summary doesn't address the most important aspe by Maritz · · Score: 2

    You forgot to say "SJW".

    --
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  19. Re:Summary doesn't address the most important aspe by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    A picture of Trump with the phrase "PC Sucks!"

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  20. Re:Summary doesn't address the most important aspe by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    That is so sexist, couldn't the spokesman have been a spokeswoman wearing a blouse? /SJW

    --
    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  21. Re:Summary doesn't address the most important aspe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Using shirt and man while complaining about a sexist witch hunt. You and the SJWs deserve each other. Time for some popcorn!

  22. A Better Web Site for Comet Catalina by scruffy · · Score: 1

    If you want an informative web site that actually works without Javascript, visit http://www.skyandtelescope.com...

  23. I see a bad moon risin' by Thud457 · · Score: 1

    WTF are you posting a link to Forbes, ostensibly a business magazine for a story about a comet?

    Since comets are portents of doom, you should link to the article on Astrology Today.

    My bet is this signals that the Mahdi is going rise and take control of the Caliphate in Iraq.

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

    1. Re:I see a bad moon risin' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      WTF are you posting a link to Forbes, ostensibly a business magazine for a story about a comet?

      Because we all learned to stop clicking on astronomy articles from medium.com, so they had to move this moron's blog someplace else.

  24. All Gas Giants Are Failed Stars? by Scarletdown · · Score: 2

    Anyone else find this declaration in the article mildly annoying?

    Out a little farther, the four gas giants -- themselves failed stars --

    At best, one would think that of the four, only Jupiter could even remotely be considered a failed star. I would think the other three don't have nearly enough mass to qualify for such a designation.

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    This space unintentionally left blank.
  25. Obligatory car analogy by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    So it's like saving the effort of walking by standing in the road and letting a bus catch up with you, only very much more so?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    1. Re:Obligatory car analogy by Crowd+Computing · · Score: 1

      OP wanted to send objects out of the solar system. He didn't say in one piece. Then again you can think of all those Hollywood stunts where the hero jumps onto an oncoming truck or train. So in principle it should be survivable with some monstrous shock absorbers.

  26. Re:Summary doesn't address the most important aspe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bob Dole!