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http://www.physorg.com/news12104.html
feel free to comment; i'll comment later; i'm going to sleep now!
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DYING COMET: A cometary "string-of-pearls" will fly past Earth in May 2006 giving astronomers a fantastic view of a comet in its death throes. There might even be a meteor shower.
"Mini comets" approaching Earth
*No chance for impact; closest fragment will be 6 million miles away at nearest approach. Possibility of incidental meteor shower resulting.
In 1995, Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 did something unexpected: it fell apart. For no apparent reason, the comet's nucleus split into at least three "mini-comets" flying single file through space.
"This is a rare opportunity to watch a comet in its death throes—from very close range"
The flyby is a big deal. "The Hubble Space Telescope will be watching," says Yeomans. "Also, the giant Arecibo radar in Puerto Rico will 'ping' the fragments to determine their shape and spin."
Watch begins May 12. Fragments are dim, expected to be approximately 3rd or 4th magnitude. Will be viewable with binoculars.
The cometary fragments are apparently continuing to fragment further.
The number of fragments is constantly changing. When the breakup began in 1995 there were only three: A, B and C. Astronomers now count at least eight: big fragments B and C plus smaller fragments G, H, J, L, M and N. "It looks as though some of the fragments are themselves forming their own sub-fragments," says Yeomans, which means the number could multiply further as 73P approaches. No knows how long the "string of pearls" will be when it finally arrives.
Cool!
--Cindy
We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...
--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)
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well, they don't know, and it seems odd to me how it broke up in the first place suggesting to me that maybe it did get hit by something; therefore, we could have ourselves either a pretty good meteor shower, or worse!
Unless I get a direct hit, I've thought out an idea of how to survive an impact, or even a volcanic eruption(although still, far enough away to not get overlly covered up where I'm digging through say lava or more than a story height of ash), basically, locate myself a basement somewhere. Well, I thought I'd pass along the idea!
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