Libario Obeid

5/2/11

Period: 3

Religion- Comet Elenin Assignment

Comet C/2010 X1 (Elenin) is a long-period comet discovered by Russian astronomer

Leonid Elenin on December 10, 2010 at the International Scientific Optical Network's
robotic observatory near Mayhill, New Mexico, U.S.A. At the time of discovery Elenin
had an apparent magnitude of 19.5, making it about 150,000 times fainter than the naked
eye magnitude of 6.5. The discoverer, Leonid Elenin, estimates that the comet nucleus is
3–4 km in diameter. As of April 2011, the comet is around magnitude 15 (roughly the
brightness of Pluto), and the coma (expanding tenuous dust atmosphere) of the comet is
estimated to be about 80,000 km in diameter.

C/2010 X1 will come to perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on 10 September 2011
at a distance of 0.4824 AU. On 16 October 2011, the comet will pass within about
0.23 AU (34,000,000 km; 21,000,000 mi) of the Earth at a relative velocity of
86,000 km/hr. The Minor Planet Center ephemeris shows this relatively bright comet will
reach about 6th magnitude near mid-October 2011, but until the activity level of the coma
is better known it is still uncertain just how bright this comet will become. Elenin will
make its closest apparent pass in the night sky to Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková
on the morning of October 8, before moving apparently close to and in front of Mars on
October 15. The comet came to opposition at 178° from the Sun on March 14 and will
come to opposition again on November 22 at 175° from the Sun. The minimum angle
between the Sun and comet will occur September 26 (1.9°), and between July 28 and
October 10 the comet will be less than 45 degrees from the Sun.

Given the orbital eccentricity of this object, different epochs can generate quite different
heliocentric unperturbed two-body best-fit solutions to the aphelion distance (maximum
distance) of this object. Near perihelion using an August 2011 epoch, Kazuo Kinoshita
shows C/2010 X1 to have a heliocentric orbital period of 600,000 years, but being on a
highly eccentric orbit, the comet will be frequently perturbed by the planets as it leaves
the inner solar system. For objects at such high eccentricity, the Sun's barycentric
coordinates are more stable than heliocentric coordinates. The orbit of a long-period
comet is properly obtained when the osculating orbit is computed at an epoch after
leaving the planetary region and is calculated with respect to the center of mass of the
solar system. Using JPL Horizons with an observed orbital arc of 118 days, the
barycentric orbital elements for epoch 2020-Jan-01 generate a semi-major axis of 519 AU
and a period of approximately 11,800 years.
Before entering the planetary region (epoch 1950), Elenin had a calculated barycentric
orbital period of ~6.1 million years with an apoapsis (aphelion) distance of about
66,900 AU (1.05 light-years). Elenin was probably in the outer Oort cloud with a loosely
bound chaotic orbit that was easily perturbed by passing stars.

Comet Elenin was just discovered this past Dec. 2010 by a Russian Astronomer Leonid
Elenin. The question is why media hasn’t said anything about it? They have always made
a big fuzz in the past about found comets. Is it because it is going to be coming a little too
close for comfort and they don’t want people freaking out? Comet Elenin Could Hit
Earth. This is a possibility because of the very unstable predictions of the Comet.
Preliminary predictions have Comet Elenin coming within 42 million miles of the Earth
with a very favorable comet sun angle for observers in the northern hemisphere. This is
likely to change somewhat as additional data will tweak the orbit, but as it stands now we
will see a spectacular comet in late October or early November 2011. When Comet
Elenin first was discovered in December last 2010 it was calculated to pass 8.8 Au (8.8
times the distance of the Sun form us) away. But now these calculations has once
changed again. Today the orbital calculation is down to 0.24 Au with a minimum as low
as 0.15. But these data is being recalculated all the time and it could get even closer but
that depends what it encounters in the Oort belt. Just so you know the Moon is 0.00256
away from us to give you a comparison. We must be aware the this comet could bring
enormous amount of debris with it and Earth will pass through the debris trail. This will
probably take place around the 6th November 2011 or later. Could this new long period
comet be the original story of Nibiru?
Comet Elenin could be the Comet that is mentioned in the Nostradamus quatrains, and it
will supposedly shed a quarter of a mile diameter shard that will then impact our planet in
the area of the Azores. If this impact occur, it will then cripple much of Europe and the
east coast of North America. The entire sequence was originally supposed to begin
between August or October of 1999, when the comet is seen by way of an eclipse. But
calendars being what they are and our inexact keep of time, the focus is now on Elenin as
that mortal messenger. Content of it all is , that if a quarter of a mile (one stadias) comet
fragment striking along the mid Atlantic ridge around the Azores it would cause all kinds
of problems, including tsunamis, earthquakes, floods and retransmitting pieces of our
own planet. C2010 X1 Elenin (to give its full name) is a long-period comet, which takes
about 10,000 years to complete one orbit around the Sun. It was discovered with a robotic
telescope in New Mexico on 10 December 2010 by Russian amateur astronomer Leonid
Elenin. When comets or asteroids are first discovered, their orbits are quite uncertain;
usually it takes several months of observations to firmly establish the orbit. Elenin's
perihelion (closest to the Sun) is in early September 2011 at a distance from the Sun of
40-45 million miles. It will be closest to Earth on about 16 October, at a distance of about
21 million miles, which is nearly a hundred times farther than the Moon. The comet
never comes close to the Earth, but it is expected to be visible in binoculars during
August and October. Part of the Internet chatter concerns its size. Comets are exceedingly
small and enveloped in a tenuous cloud of gas and dust, so the only way to be sure of
their actual dimensions is to visit with a spacecraft. Half a dozen comets have been the
target of spacecraft missions, and all of them (even Comet Halley) are less than 10 km in
diameter. There is no reason to think Elenin is any different. This means its mass is less
than one billionth the mass of the Earth. Needless to say, we will not be aware of the tiny
gravitational pull from Elenin. In spite of these simple facts, some websites (such as
godlikeproductions) are making wild claims that Elenin will hit the Earth, or disturb our
orbit, or cause tides, or interact with our magnetic field. Such claims are pure fiction. One
of the worst examples is a video that someone posted on the NASAbuzzroom website
that claims that the magnetic field of the comet will cause a large shift in the rotation axis
of the Earth and produce mega-earthquakes on March 15, 2011. It is hard to imagine
anyone would take this seriously. Comets don't have magnetic fields, and magnetic fields
can't change the rotation axis or cause earthquakes no matter how large they are. Adding
to the craziness is a claim that this same comet caused the Earth's axis to shift by 3
degrees in February 2010 and caused the Chile Earthquake. These are simply lies; the
comet was far away a year ago, and there was no change whatever in Earth's rotation
axis. The Chile earthquake was a normal slippage in an active fault that has produced
many previous earthquakes, including the one witnessed by Charles Darwin in 1835.
Please remember that just because someone says he or she is from NASA doesn't make it
true. Many people who post YouTube videos lie about their affiliation. Incidentally, only
NASA is allowed to use the NASA logo, the blue circle with the word NASA and a
satellite orbiting around it.