I don't think my foil hat will help!

[qweek]

http://www.astrobio.net/exclusive/34...-about-nemesis

A dark object may be lurking near our solar system, occasionally kicking comets in our direction.

Nicknamed “Nemesis� or “The Death Star,� this undetected object could be a red or brown dwarf star, or an even darker presence several times the mass of Jupiter.

Why do scientists think something could be hidden beyond the edge of our solar system? Originally, Nemesis was suggested as a way to explain a cycle of mass extinctions on Earth.

The paleontologists David Raup and Jack Sepkoski claim that, over the last 250 million years, life on Earth has faced extinction in a 26-million-year cycle. Astronomers proposed comet impacts as a possible cause for these catastrophes.

Our solar system is surrounded by a vast collection of icy bodies called the Oort Cloud. If our Sun were part of a binary system in which two gravitationally-bound stars orbit a common center of mass, this interaction could disturb the Oort Cloud on a periodic basis, sending comets whizzing towards us.

An asteroid impact is famously responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, but large comet impacts may be equally deadly. A comet may have been the cause of the Tunguska event in Russia in 1908. That explosion had about a thousand times the power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, and it flattened an estimated 80 million trees over an 830 square mile area.

While there’s little doubt about the destructive power of cosmic impacts, there is no evidence that comets have periodically caused mass extinctions on our planet. The theory of periodic extinctions itself is still debated, with many insisting that more proof is needed. Even if the scientific consensus is that extinction events don’t occur in a predictable cycle, there are now other reasons to suspect a dark companion to the Sun.

Anyone see the big ass comet heading towards the sun as we went about our business today?

It was pretty big, latest pics look like it may have actually miss old Sol. Not sure.

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/

http://spaceweather.com/

[qweek]

There have been a lot of comets hitting the sun lately, yesterdays comet was really large, stay tuned.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle7061035.ece

A space telescope has caught a giant comet's extraordinary final hours as it made a dive of death into the sun.

The cosmic missile, with a head the size of the Isle of Wight and a tail many millions of miles long, appeared in pictures being taken by a NASA satellite on Friday [[12th).

The orbiting SoHo observatory, which continually monitors the sun, recorded the rare and previously unspotted brilliant comet swooping in from the lower left of its pictures.

It grew ever brighter as it aimed directly at our home star, shown as a white ring in the images. It was immediately vaporised by the sun's powerful nuclear furnace.

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Experts believe the huge comet was just a fragment of a vast supercomet that broke up at least 2,000 years ago. The resulting debris, now orbiting in the solar system as smaller comets, is called the Kreutz family after a 19th century German astronomer who studied them.

Astronomers say that many much smaller Kreutz fragments, too small to be seen, graze past the sun every day and disintegrate.

This week NASA revealed that their new Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer space telescope - WISE - could detect a dim brown dwarf companion star to the sun that may be sending comets towards us from a vast reservoir of the icy objects called the Oort Cloud at the edge of the solar system.

Robin Scagell, vice-president of the Society for Popular Astronomy, said today: "A comet like this will be like no more than an annoying fleabite for the sun. But if it something of a similar size hit the Earth it could blast a crater the size of a city and cause country-wide devastation. So it is rather alarming that they just arrive out of nowhere and are so unpredictable!"

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Mark Stenson wrote:
"This week NASA revealed that their new Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer space telescope - WISE - could detect a dim brown dwarf companion star to the sun that may be sending comets towards us from a vast reservoir of the icy objects called the Oort Cloud at the edge of the solar system."

Like, Wow. Discovery of a Brown Dwarf Star, possibly, causing debris from the Oort Cloud to migrate toward the center of the solar system. Shouldn't that get a bit more media coverage.
March 13, 2010 11:27 PM GMT
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Lord Snooty wrote:
"The cosmic missile, with a head the size of the Isle of Wight and a tail many millions of miles long..."

Many millions of miles? Nope. Not getting it. Can you give me a visual? How many times is it around the equator? To the moon and back? Double-decker buses length?
March 13, 2010 9:21 PM GMT
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http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?...layer_embedded

[gazhekwe]

Fascinating. Where is this brown dwarf? Can we see it? Why is it pitching comets at us? It's beginning to sound a bit like our very own Nain Rouge.

[qweek]

Ok, so seems the little comet may have upset old Sol, there is a huge explosion on the Sun happening right now.

http://www.lmsal.com/solarsoft/lates...228_laslm.html

slow that sucker down to get a better idea of what's happening. This is a coronal mass ejection, CME, looks like a humdinger! Taking off foil hat, don't want to be Mrs. Baked Potato Head.

[gazhekwe]

I went prospecting on reading this, there are some neat threads out there with links to images of one, two and three-four comets heading sunwise. Only one image of a hit, though. All kinds of predictions about the big CME, maybe it's headed past the Earth and will miss us, but what if it hits? Anything from communications disruption to mass destruction is possible, so say those who post to fora about space phenomena. Get out the Crisco and get ready for a really interesting St. Paddy's Day.

[qweek]

Hello and good morning Gazhekwe. Interesting stuff isn't it? Spaceweather headline this morning, CME is headed our way,

http://spaceweather.com/

INCOMING: This morning, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory recorded a halo CME emerging from the vicinity of sunspot 1054: movie. The cloud appears to be heading toward Earth and it could spark geomagnetic storms when it arrives on or about March 17th. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras.

Nothing to worry about this time. Watch the sky at night for the next few days if the clouds clear up, maybe we will get lucky and see the auroras. I have only seen them once and it was fantastic, I could swear that I could feel the energy in the air. It's only the solar wind stream slamming into the Earth, highly charged particles from the Sun, no biggie!

[qweek]

I have no idea where Nemesis, Nibiru, the brown dwarf companion to our Sun is. I am curious though, part of my brain keeps screaming for me to pay attention to this stuff and so I do.

I should take up a more cheerful hobby, maybe painting or gardening.

[gazhekwe]

Vollbrect Planetarium is at Adler Elementary School here in Southfield. Sometimes they do programs for the public. One of them is titled "The Last Day on Earth," 15 things that could destroy us in the next five seconds. The presenter is Mike Best.

www.starmikebest.com

Name: Vollbrecht Planetarium Address: 19100 Filmore, Southfield, MI 48075 USA Contact: Mike Best Phone: 734-459-2378 Email: StarMikeBest@comcast.net URL: Website Members: 70 seats

[qweek]

Thank you Gazhekwe, bookmarked.

http://soho.esac.esa.int/data/LATEST/current_c3.mpg

Nice clip of the recent comets hitting the sun.

[Ravine]

Can't help but love the way Qweek followed her totally serious analysis of the issue with her totally colloquial inquiry:

"Anyone see the big ass comet heading towards the sun as we went about our business today?"

Hilarious.
Thanks for both, Qweek. You're quite a resource, here, and a truly unique one, as well.

[qweek]

Can't help but love the way Qweek followed her totally serious analysis of the issue with her totally colloquial inquiry:

"Anyone see the big ass comet heading towards the sun as we went about our business today?"

Hilarious.
Thanks for both, Qweek. You're quite a resource, here, and a truly unique one, as well.

Someday I'd like to buy you a beer or two Ravine!