Lovejoy’s brother – Bright comet dives into radiation storm
Another bright comet is diving into the sun. It was discovered just last week by SOHO’s SWAN instrument, so it has been named “Comet SWAN.” The comet’s death plunge ( or “swan dive”) comes just as the sun has unleashed a strong flare and radiation storm around Earth. SOHO images of the comet are confused to some degree by energetic protons striking the camera.
Swan is a Kreutz sungrazer, a fragment of the same ancient comet that produced sungrazing Comet Lovejoy in December 2011.
Will Comet SWAN survive its plunge through the sun’s atmosphere as Comet Lovejoy did? Probably not, but experts also said Comet Lovejoy would not survive, and they were happily wrong. Comet’s SWAN’s closest approach to the sun will likely come on March 14th.
WHAT???
Big difference between sun and moon, dude–and: last time the Mayan calendar went jackpot was in early 1500s; bad times for the aztecs, but for the Spanish, not so much…and the time before that, well, adios mayans, eh.
Maybe, avoid taking that trip to Cancun this Xmas, but otherwise, don’t sweat it.
The shrinks say, them that get hung up on impending apocalypse, are those unable to accept the inevitability of their own demise. Embrace LIFE, dude, and then lie down gracefully, when its time…
I thot this was a ‘hard science’ site–where’d the wingnuts flutter in from?
G.
large chunk of rock hits dark side of the moon. throws up red dust corona around the moons periphery. very pretty but the earths titl alters and the poles start to melt. 3 feet increase in sea level. get yourselves a high rose apartment is my advice. The when of it? probably this december if the mayans knew anything at all. Thanks pete.
Now, we wait; will SWAN sizzle away like a sweat-bead on a hot griddle, or will it pop things like a dart in a birthday-balloon?
Anybody making book, yet? Cycle 24 was s’posed to be ‘ho-hum’, and it’s been a geomagnetic thrill-ride, so far… I can hardly wait for what Sunspot 1437 has in store for us; staying tuned, I will be…
Keep up the good site; thx, people, it’s a gas…
Grant