Stereo Behind Views Elenin

Comet Elenin is coming, and everybody keeps mistaking other bodies for Elenin on the NASA SOHO website.

So here's your chance to see what Elenin really looks like on SOHO:

WattsUpWithThat

In just a few hours from now, NASA rolls the STEREO BEHIND solar satellite to have a look at Comet Elenin (P/2010 X1), and if you haven’t been paying attention, it is one red hot topic topped with wilder imaginations, dooms, hypotheticals and omens than previously imagined.
From being on a par with/substitute for Niburu to a first ever hyperbolic (>1) cometary orbit, you’d be hard pressed to make the relevant data up.
Perihelion somewhat around Sept 11, 2011 (maybe they changed it, maybe not) and origin from the Oort Cloud to an interstellar rogue object. Composition unknown.

NASA Press release:

www.jpl.nasa.gov...

Elenin orbital trajectory:

secchi.nrl.navy.mil...

I'm not entirely what this will prove or disprove, it is however a really great way of using existing equipment to investigate new phenomena. And for all you "theorists", here's a chance to see for yourselves!

Even though some paranoid people will think it's a lie, I like what they say about why they're looking at Elenin:

"This intrepid little traveler will offer astronomers a chance to study a relatively young comet that came here from well beyond our solar system's planetary region. After a short while, it will be headed back out again, and we will not see or hear from Elenin for thousands of years. That's pretty cool."

so its a comet and not nibiru?

reply to post by 2Unknown


Heh, the way things are going it's whatever you want it to be.

with such a distance it travels, makes you wonder what star or large body is on the other end of the rope. I guess there's no way to tell the entire journey this comet takes?

Your link JPL.NASA? Is this NASA or hoax website ripoff? If it is NASA I'm now worried as who would call a comet ELEnin Extinction Level Event? .?

It doesn't matter if it is a blurry spec the size of a pinhead, people will still call it a dwarf star.

The whole point of this is to FIND OUT.

Yeah there's a lot of disinfo (BS) going around about this, space rock. Now we have a chance to learn more about our universe, that's awesome.

BSalert: JPL.NASA is the domain used to used the SOHO data. You do know something about this ... right?

Boncho: Such willful ignorance is not mine to spout nor tolerate.

Does anyone know exactly when the pictures will start coming through? I've had a look in a few places but the closest I can get is a date, not a time.

reply to post by Peteos


Sorry, i couldn't find that info either?

Was hoping either that someone could help, or we'll just have to wait for them to be published.

Originally posted by Peteos
Does anyone know exactly when the pictures will start coming through? I've had a look in a few places but the closest I can get is a date, not a time.

Todays test has already happened. Between 8-10 UT. Link

Note if you browse through images for STEREO-B today/now 01-AUG-2011, you will see they haven't released any images of the test. Browse STEREO data

In addition, they have a time stamp you will notice no shots of the test published during these times.

reply to post by MasterAndrew


Many thanks. Strange that we've not seen the pictures yet! They'll probably turn up blank, over-exposure or some other excuse. In the meantime; hypothetically, how should this comet appear in the image, based on the official facts?

reply to post by harryhaller

The transmission of beacon mode ("real time") data is interrupted during a roll maneuver because the antenna is not on the roll axis.

The data from that period should appear when the full data set is downloaded via the Deep Space Network, if not sooner.

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by harryhaller

 

The transmission of beacon mode ("real time") data is interrupted during a roll maneuver because the antenna is not on the roll axis.

The data from that period should appear when the full data set is downloaded via the Deep Space Network, if not sooner.

edit on 8/1/2011 by Phage because: (no reason given)

The beacon images get uploaded in real time, full size images 2-3 days later. Also I can't find anywhere that the antenna will be effected by a "roll".

STEREO has two separate telemetry streams coming down from each spacecraft, the space weather beacon telemetry, and the science recorder playback telemetry. The beacon telemetry contains the most recent data and images, and is transmitted 24 hours per day. A volunteer network of antenna stations around the world collect as much as possible of this real-time data stream, and send it to the STEREO Science Center for processing. However, because the beacon telemetry rate is very low, the images need to be compressed by large factors, and are thus of much lower quality than the actual science data. The science data collected by the STEREO spacecraft are written to the on-board recorder, which is then read out and transmitted to the ground during daily telemetry tracks using the NASA Deep Space Network. These data are of much higher quality than the beacon data, but take several days to reach the STEREO Science Center website. Thus, the most recent images on the STEREO Science Center browse tool will always be beacon images. These temporary beacon images are replaced with the full-quality versions as they become available, generally about 2-3 days later. Beacon images can always be recognized by having the character "7" near the end of the filename, e.g. "n7euA", while the full resolution images will have the character "4" in that location. Also check out the write-up on cosmic rays to see how the high compression factors used for the beacon data affect those artifacts. Although the initial beacon JPEG images on the browse pages are replaced by the high resolution images as they become available, the original FITS versions of the beacon files are saved, and can be read using any of a large number of software packages, most of which are free.

reply to post by MasterAndrew

The high gain antenna is kept aimed at Earth by a combination of two systems; by rolling the entire spacecraft for the X-axis (the spacecraft-Sun axis) and with a motor for the Y-axis. The roll maneuver breaks that aim. Data cannot be received when the antenna is not aimed at Earth.

As can be seen in this picture of the spacecraft, a roll around the axis of the coronographs (the ring) of 135º greatly changes the direction of the antenna. That is why there is no data from STEREO B for the period from 08:00 to 10:00 UTC. When the spacecraft is returned to "normal" the data is again received.


As shown on the schedule. The full data download will occur on August 4.
stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov...

Originally posted by Phage
As shown on the schedule. The full data download will occur on August 4.
stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov...

I knew somebody would know

Thanks Phage, looking forward to having a look see!

reply to post by harryhaller

Should be interesting. At a close approach 0.05 AU its going to be a pretty good view.
But probably not as good as McNaught.

Leonid Elenin 'himself' stated on spaceobs that data will be available august 4th.

NASA minutes of late stated they would do an extra day on ELEnin a day ahead of schedule (july 31 being the extra day added on to aug 1 to 13.

I'm busy August 4th to 6th but August 7th I will be checking here, 'Leonid Elenin' posts, and NASA.

reply to post by bsalert


Not anyone with any kind of authority thats for sure. Only the doomsday nutters say this is an extinction level event. Its just a comet after all.

reply to post by Phage


I remember a spectacular show from comet Hale Bopp. I saw it in April and in Nov of 97. It was a big white smudge in the sky. I went out every night and looked at it until it went below the horizon. ( and my neighbors garage lol) and I couldnt see it in the sky any more. I am in eastern Virginia. I saw Halleys too a few years before Hale Bopp but was not nearly as impressive to see. I remember my Grandma saying she'd seen Halleys when she was a young woman. She was born in 1889 . Halleys has an orbit of about 75 years so she must have seen it in 1911 or there abouts.