Make this next few days the best ever

[Ves]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20060413/p ... 006104_xml

KEALAKEKUA, Hawaii, April 13 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Eric Julien, a former French military air traffic controller and senior airport manager, has completed a study of the comet 73P Schwassmann- Wachmann and declared that a fragment is highly likely to impact the Earth on or around May 25, 2006.

Comet Schwassman-Wachmann follows a five-year orbit that crosses the solar system's ecliptic plane. It has followed its five year orbit intact for centuries; but, in 1995, mysteriously fragmented. According to Julien, this is the same year that a crop circle appeared showing the inner solar system with the Earth missing from its orbit. He argues the "Missing Earth" crop circle was a message from higher intelligences warning humanity of the consequences of its destructive nuclear policies. He links this crop circle to May 25, 2006, and identifies the comet Schwassmann-Wachman as the subject of higher intelligence communications.

Using
NASA simulations of the comet's path, Julien concludes that impact is likely around May 25 precisely when the comet crosses the Earth's ecliptic plane. While the first fragment will cross at approximately 10 million miles, lagging fragments threaten to collide. While astronomers have stated that the comet poses no direct threat, Julien argues that some fragments are too small to observe. Astronomers have predicted possible meteor showers indicating some cometary debris will enter the atmosphere.

Julien argues that the kinetic energy of even a 'car sized' fragment will impact the Earth with devastating effect. He concludes the May 25 event is tied in to the Bush administration's policy of preemptive use of nuclear weapons against
Iran, and the effect of nuclear weapons on the realms of higher intelligences. Regarding its importance, Julien declares: "we have to save lives when we have such information to share with the public". He further claims it important "to preserve all data, historical artifacts and precious material in the event of such a collision." Julien predicts that the comet collision will occur in the Atlantic Ocean between the Equator and the Tropic of Cancer, and generates 200 meter waves. Julien concludes that "each person with this information has to take responsibility to warn potential victims."

I don't know what level of bull shit this falls under. I would expect a huge amount of media coverage if there was even a chance a comet would impact earth.

[Mikren]

funny seeing this after i just got through watching Armegeddon last night

[Zolo]

While one car-sized fragment would be devastating to a local area, it'd hardly have enough energy to make a global impact. Now if it was a 1/4-mile wide or bigger, that would be more serious event.

Of course, that's assuming this guy is a wack-job who actually knows what he's talking about, and not just a wack-job in general. I find it a little dubious that no legitimate astronomers are backing up his claim in that story.

[Edit: Haha! Definitely a wack-job. He's sponsored by these guys. ]

[Payndar Circusdorf]

"Julien argues that the kinetic energy of even a 'car sized' fragment will impact the Earth with devastating effect."

No.

[Payndar Circusdorf]

I find it a little dubious that no legitimate astronomers are backing up his claim in that story.

I am sure you would get numerous legitimate astronomers to line up for any possible slander against GWB.

[Kabol]

French military? Someone must have taken an Onion article seriously again...

[Ves]

Funny how other sites are saying the comet will be at its closest on May 12th/13th.

http://cometography.com/pcomets/073p.html

Apparition of 2006: The next predicted perihelion date is 2006 June 7 and the comet will pass 0.0735 AU from Earth on May 13, being only slightly farther away than during the original discovery apparition of 1930. C. W. Hergenrother (Lunar and Planetary Laboratory) recovered the brightest component, referred to as "C", while using the 1.2-m reflector at Mount Hopkins on 2005 October 22. He gave the magnitude as 19.3 and said the strongly condensed coma was 6 arcsec across. There was also a fan-shaped tail extending 8 arcsec in PA 300°. Component "B" was found at by J. A. Farrell (Jemez Springs, New Mexico, USA) on 2006 January 6, while using a 41-cm reflector. He gave the magnitude as 18.8-19.0, which was then just over three magnitudes fainter than component "C".
The next component found did not match the prediction for any previously observed component and set the stage for many new discoveries as the comet approached perihelion. This new component was labelled "G". It was independently found by R. A. Tucker (Tucson, Arizona, USA) on February 20 and 22, and E. J. Christensen on Mt. Lemmon Survey images obtained on February 24. The magnitude was given as 17.2. Component "H" was discovered by R. Kowalski on March 4. Components "J", "K", and "L" were found by R. E. Hill and Christensen at Mt. Lemmon on March 5. Components "M" and "N" were independently found by P. Birtwhistle (Great Shefford, Berkshire, England) and Chistensen on March 23. Components "P", "Q", "R", and "S" were located at Mt. Lemmon during the period of March 23 to 25.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwassmann-Wachmann-3

The fragments are expected to pass the Earth in late April and early May of 2006, coming nearest to the Earth around May 12 at a distance of about 12 Gm (7.5 million miles). That is a close pass in astronomical terms (0.08 AU) though nothing to be concerned about. In 1930 when it passed the Earth this close, there were meteor showers with as many as 100 meteors per minute. However, recent analysis by P. A. Wiegert et al.[1] suggests that a recurrence of this spectacle is unlikely.

[Payndar Circusdorf]

Funny how other sites are saying the comet will be at its closest on May 12th/13th.

Awesome, so I will assplode during my Dispute Resolution exam and will get to miss out on Corporations altogether.

[Mallaien]

yea when I read the words "crop circle" I hung up the phone to my insurance broker. There is too much evidence that crop circles are fake. allso its just plain dumb that this kind of person would come up with this stuff. Looks like stuff you see on http://www.coasttocoastam.com/

[Rango]

crop circles are fake, what kind of aliens would just come down and fuck with us? shit, if i was an alien i would have A) killed all the humans or
B) already started intergalactic trade