Comet C/2010 X1 (Elenin) visible through STEREO from July 31 to August 12...??

Okay so I found this post by......Leonid Elenin (himself) on the SpaceObs.org site.

Here's the deal,

NASA is interested in observing Comet C/2010 X1 (Elenin) with the space coronagraphs SOHO and STEREO. Not long ago I received a reply from Joseph B. Gurman to the effect that starting July 17 they will be running pointing tests on the space telescope STEREO-B. The spacecraft will be rotated as will be necessary to do in the future to observe the comet. If all the tests are successful, of which the STEREO team has no doubt, they will observe Comet Elenin from July 31 to August 12, two hours a day. The minimal distance (July 31 2011, 12:40 UT) between comet and spacecraft will be 7.4 million km (0.049 AU). Plans to observe the comet using SOHO with different fliters are also in the works.

Space observations of comet Elenin may take place by July 31st

I really have no idea if this is valid information because I can't find any other information about this planned activity. And if it's indeed the case that they'll be tracking C/2010 X1 for 2 hours a day, will the data be publicly availible?

Anybody with some more inside information is welcome to share.

Peace

At first i thought the comet changed trajectory since we have been told before that it will pass beneath the cameras. Then i noticed that the article states they are going to rotate the cam.

and now I find myself asking WHY??

I dont think this was ever done before, for a 4km wide comet

This is sure something to follow up

S+F

Interesting. If NASA are so interested in viewing Elenin, I wonder why they don't just point Hubble at it.

st.

Interesting indeed. Everyone needs to watch this and get some more info ASAP.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's like the US pointing one of their main spy sattelites at me while driving to make sure my head lights are one right? Putting a whole lot into something that they claim is a "non-issue"

... I don't trust it.... If it was truly a non-issue, why even waste time rotating a telescope??
I can't WAIT until september-october...

ETA: S & F OP

reply to post by heineken

The more i read, the more I'm convinced this information is legit.

From an earlier article by Leonid it says:

NASA is interested in observing comet Elenin with its space telescopes

The spacecraft may pass through the dust and ion tails of the comet. This second option presents greater danger to the spacecraft. Let’s hope that these observations will take place and that they will be successful, and the spacecraft will continue its work without any problems in its Sun-synchronous orbit.

Maybe because the danger of damage to the spacecraft is the reason NASA is going out of it's way. Still strange this is the only information I'm finding on this...??

Peace

reply to post by operation mindcrime


Interesting how between his article, and his replies in the comments, his english drops dramatically.

Lyndon Eaton

I know you are busy, so i will be brief.
1.Do you believe the comet Elenin caused the earthquake in Japan?
2.Has the size of the comet been updated larger in recent days?
(I heard that the coma was about 28,000 kilm wide.)
3.Is there a formula to determine the actual size of the comet object compared to the size of its coma?
Thank you Mr. Elenin.
sincerely, Lyndon Eaton

LeonidOS

Hello Lyndon!

1. No, I can't see the link between my comet in 300 000 000 km from the Earth and tectonic activity in Pacific ocean.

2. I'm not measurement coma in last days, but do what in the near future. Stay tuned.

3. No, we can determine size of comet nucleus by measuring magnitude of nucleus. But now comet is very active and we can't precise exclude influence of coma on brightness of nucleus.

You're welcome!

Yeah this was announced back in March in STEREO Minutes on upcoming STEREO maneuvers, (at the bottom under Upcoming events).

STEREO Weekly Minutes

I think they planned to turn SOHO towards Elenin back in May as explained here.


I'm not sure what you expect to see from these spacecraft images other than a streak of light in the sky though.

Starting at the end of July STEREO B should be within 7.4 million miles from Elenin, maybe that's why they will turn the craft towards that direction for such a close approach. Mind you, for two hours a day as it passes by.

Originally posted by My.mind.is.mine
reply to post by operation mindcrime

 

Interesting how between his article, and his replies in the comments, his english drops dramatically.

He is suppose to be Russian, right?

I recognise this when I create a thread on ATS (English is not my native tongue either), you create a thread, run it through a spell checker, read it over a couple of time and edit it before putting it online.

Replying is done in a much different fashion. Usually a reply is in a hurry or in the heat of the discussion or when I really should be doing other things. They are usually more sloppy and have more gramatical errors......

Peace

reply to post by operation mindcrime


Makes sense, thank you. I just brought that up because I am still SLIGHTLY skeptical about the existence of the man at all.

probable this will finally give some final evidence that this is just a small comet.

worth looking out for the images.

then all the elenin threads that are doom, can finaly be closed down

cool

reply to post by operation mindcrime


Sky object Elenin could pulse the snot out of Stereo B. It would be surprising if it survived.

Fried, dyed and laid to the side. Goodbye Stereo B?

Originally posted by yourmamaknows
reply to post by operation mindcrime

 

Sky object Elenin could pulse the snot out of Stereo B. It would be surprising if it survived.

Fried, dyed and laid to the side. Goodbye Stereo B?

edit on 19-7-2011 by yourmamaknows because: forgot smiley, again!

From that distance?

unlikely

Originally posted by Illustronic
Yeah this was announced back in March in STEREO Minutes on upcoming STEREO maneuvers, (at the bottom under Upcoming events).

STEREO Weekly Minutes

I think they planned to turn SOHO towards Elenin back in May as explained here.

Thanks for those links ( ) although the second article doesn't actually seem to mention anything about the actual manoeuvre. More about the insignificance of comet C/2010 X1...

I'm not sure what you expect to see from these spacecraft images other than a streak of light in the sky though.

I don't know, they say there is a possibilty to see the darn thing's tail...

* APL has received the SECCHI team request to roll the Behind spacecraft
by 135 degrees for two hours per day each day between Aug 1 (or late
on July 31) and Aug 12 to observe comet Elenin as it flies within 0.05
AU of the spacecraft. Observations of the comet at a wide variety of
phase angles will provide information about composition. There's also
a possibility that the in situ instruments on Behind will see the ion
tail. The requested two hours per day will include the roll and
settle times, with the roll starting on an even hour boundary, and
then back to nominal roll and settled on the next even hour boundary.

APL will test the maneuver on the hardware simulator and will also
want to test it on the spacecraft about two weeks before the actual
observations.

And, if we are to trust Leonid Elenin, they are also considering pointing SOHO in the direction of Elenin.

"Plans to observe the comet using SOHO with different fliters are also in the works."

All in all pretty interesting.

Peace

reply to post by guessing


Wish you were here. Got a stack of tens. Would put a tener on it as a prop. bet.

My book reduced my bets for Sept. 26, 27, 28! That's what books do, I guess.

reply to post by yourmamaknows



what are your odds that you offer

1000:1 that it does not occur?

Originally posted by guessing
reply to post by yourmamaknows

 

what are your odds that you offer

1000:1 that it does not occur?

Already have bets with someone on the site. But not for money. On a prop bet for Stereo B, it would be even money. For the Sept. dates I wanted to bet my book one silver dollar for each of the dates against a stack of his, so 20-1 for a mind numbing, earth shattering earthquake and all.

If nothing happens on the Sept. alignment dates I have to come on the site and say I was wrong and foolish, I guess.

You realize it would be illegal to make money bets with strangers through this site? We do bet on anything. A few years ago I had a c note on Bush winning the election. Legitimate English book, but had to wait for some kinda recount. Finally got paid. Just recently emptied my account at Poker Stars because US players are forbidden. Another site, Full Tilt I think, may not have cashed out all of it's players yet. There may be a problem with under capitalization.

Waiting for some new legit sites for American players. Had one roaring good time at Poker Stars, but did better at Ultimate Bet.

Originally posted by yourmamaknows

Originally posted by guessing
reply to post by yourmamaknows

 

what are your odds that you offer

1000:1 that it does not occur?

If nothing happens on the Sept. alignment dates I have to come on the site and say I was wrong and foolish, I guess.

We will wait with much anticipation for that to occur.

Bring on September...

And how many weeks after they receive the raw data will we receive the photoshopped version?