How old is comet elenin

Maximum mass of a neutron star Nov 09, Related Stories. Image: Comet Hartley 2 approaches Earth Sep 30, May 17, Oct 19, The great cometary show Jan 19, Dec 05, Apr 07, Recommended for you.

Nov 11, Nov 10, Using blocks dropped from Perseverance and measured by InSight to learn more about Martian surface Nov 10, Nov 09, Load comments Let us know if there is a problem with our content. Your message to the editors. Your email only if you want to be contacted back. Send Feedback. Thank you for taking time to provide your feedback to the editors. E-mail the story Comet Elenin: Preview of a coming attraction. Your friend's email.

Your email. I would like to subscribe to Science X Newsletter. Learn more. Your name. This is an ex-comet. You can follow Space. Follow Space. IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Politics Covid U. News World Opinion Business. Share this —. Every so often, a stray gravitational force kicks one of the bodies toward the inner solar system.

When it gets closer to the sun, the ice begins to melt and stream away, producing the shape of a comet. Elenin, at only miles kilometers across, wasn't a very robust object to begin with when particles from the sun began to hit it. After a large storm in August pummelled the comet, an amateur captured pictures of the nucleus appearing to fall apart. On Sept. By the time it was set to pass by Earth in late October, astronomers said the comet was just crumbs of its former self. Perhaps with Apocalypse rumors beginning to take hold, some supposed that Comet Elenin could also wreak devastation on the planet.

Rumors ranged from large tides and shifting tectonic plates, to such ideas that Elenin would blot out the sun for three days impossible due to the small size of the comet and its orbit or that Elenin was actually a brown dwarf star. One conspiracy theory said Elenin stood for the acronym "Extinction-Level Event: Nibiru Is Nigh" or "Near" , referring to a fabled doomsday scenario where a large object — sometimes called Planet X — approaches or collides with Earth.

By the time Elenin disintegrated, NASA press releases on the comet began to take on a tone of frustration with the ongoing doomsday talk. One press release said the comet was gone and "should be forgotten. NASA said the comet had been an insignificant event and not the "interplanetary bogeyman" that some people made it out to be.