On August 19, a massive solar flare and coronal mass ejection hit the comet, which may have been the beginning of the end for the much ballyhooed lump of ice and dirt.
“We’ve been following it in the STEREO spacecraft images and a number of amateurs have been following it in their telescopes,” said Australian amateur astronomer Ian Musgrave, author of the Astroblog website. “Shortly after the coronal mass ejection the comet flared up and you could see some beautiful details in the tail, with the tail was twisting about in the solar wind. But shortly after that Earth- bound amateurs reported a huge decrease in the intensity of the comet. We think it may presage a falling apart of the comet.”
Originally posted by CasiusIgnoranze
reply to post by SatoriTheory
Hundreds of Comets pass close to the Sun every year without "melting".
Halley's comet gets close to the sun at a distance of 0.586 AU every 75 years, and my word it hasn't "melted completely" throughout the history since it was discovered.
Why did Comet Elenin have to be the exception? Its surface area is MASSIVE the fact it is 4 km in diameter, and it was only 0.482 AU from the Sun - a large enough distance to escape the threat of "melting".
Originally posted by Chadwickus
reply to post by CasiusIgnoranze
No comet is the same, what you're asking is like asking how long is a piece of string
Originally posted by CasiusIgnoranze
reply to post by Josonic
Did I say I was a doomsayer? Or did you just assume that I was?
www.abovetopsecret.com...
Originally posted by CasiusIgnoranze
reply to post by Chadwickus
So naturally, it begs the question: why the exception with Comet Elenin (that it "melted") when it was 0.482 AU from the Sun during its perihelion?
Originally posted by CasiusIgnoranze
To all the Elenin Debunkers and Sceptics, may I ask, how exactly did this 4 km diameter Comet just "break up" in deep space?
Originally posted by CasiusIgnoranze
reply to post by Josonic
Did I say I was a doomsayer? Or did you just assume that I was?
www.abovetopsecret.com...
