Responding to doomsayers who claim the disintergrating comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 will strike the Earth this month, NASA is now trying to convince everyone that humanity is relatively safe from destruction.
"NASA clarifies information on Comet 3P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 approach" was the title of a curious press release put out by the space agency on Thursday.
"The comet has broken into more than 40 fragments. Any pieces resulting from the breakup of its main body will come no closer than 5.5 million miles to Earth, or more than 20 times the Earth-Moon distance, during its closest approaches May 12-28," NASA announced. "Neither the main comet nor any of its pieces pose a danger to Earth."
Another NASA article published last week openly mocks those who fear annihilation. "There will be no tsunamis, firestorms or mass extinctions to spoil your Memorial Day weekend," it says.
But that same article casually mentions that the Hubble Space Telescope has only now discovered dozens of new fragments -- compared to only two pieces seen during the comet's last approach in 2001 -- and all those deadly chunks are being closely watched by NASA's Near Earth Object Program.
Web conspiracy hounds aren't buying it. They point out that the fragment NASA expects to come closest to Earth -- by NASA's own calculations -- may be only .0001 astronomical units away, or just 9,296 miles.
That's still a long way off for such small comet chunks, but it's well within the Earth's "Roche limit," or the range in which the tidal forces of our planet should be able to easily rip the fragments apart.
Doomsayers are also intrigued by this factoid from NASA:
"During the 2006 return to perihelion, which for the main fragment C takes place on 2006 June 6 (just inside the Earth's orbit), the comet began to fragment into more than 30 additional pieces."
That's the dreaded day of 06/06/06.
Armageddon Now
Astronomers first noticed the comet was breaking apart back in 1995.
Despite its relatively small size, 3P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 was making a huge sky show.
The dramatic disintegration is similar to the fate of Shoemaker-Levy 9, which was discovered in 1993 after it began falling apart.
In 1994, the fragments bombarded Jupiter.
It was the first comet-planet collision that astronomers had ever observed, and the explosive deluge left them absolutely stunned.
The biggest explosion was caused by Fragment G, which left a dark spot on Jupiter that was 7,500 miles across. The impact was equivalent to a 6,000,000-megaton TNT bomb -- or 750 times the world's nuclear arsenal.
There were 21 impacts observed over six days. Scientists say the Earth has suffered such comet-fragment bombardment in the past and it will surely happen again.
See the comet!
The biggest fragments will be visible with the naked eye beginning next week.
Fragments C and B will be especially large and bright in the middle of the month, and both may have large comet tails visible.
A backyard telescope or even binoculars will make the view much better, sky watchers say.