Multiple bogeys are heading our way from space

[Java]

Anybody even heard of Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 yet?

Well it (and it's many fragmenting pieces) are headed our way for a close encounter by mid-May to put on quite a show.

For some Hubble Space Telescope videos taken over a few days time about a week ago check out:

http://www.spacetelescope.org/videos/html/mov/320px/heic0605b.html

[Java]

Here's a website where they list the projected orbital paths over 60 (and counting) larger known fragments thus far:

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db?name=73P

One thing I'd say is if anything were to be in the path of all these, they would be like killer bees with all their multiple impacts! ...and who knows where many of these may end up passing or hitting on future orbits and how much rock is in any of these (and spreading out too)? ...or how much stuff has spread out and how far in the past few years since the break-up began? Much too close for comfort and scary stuff if you ask me!

[Java]

http://www.spaceweather.com/

Check this site daily for updates.
(By the way they have archived pages to view too.)

[Java]

What surprises me is how little (if anything yet?) the mass media has even mentioned about all this... Maybe they're afraid of all the hidden stuff which may be trailing behind what we can see... which the earth will be passing through probably sometime close to the 22nd of May...(?)

[pinky]

Really! I wouldn't have known anything about this had you not posted it, so THANK YOU!

I was talking to a friend who's a science teacher and astronomy buff, and he said that there's no real consensus about how good the viewing will be, because of the fact that the comet is broken into pieces. One school of thought says that, because there are so many pieces, the tail will be drawn out, making it easier to see. The other says that, because there are so many pieces, each one will be much fainter, and it will be harder to see. That may be why the media isn't saying too much yet. I guess we'll know in a few days..

Not around here, though. We're about to enter a period of much-needed rain, so we won't have clear skies for a few days. But I plan to get out with my telescope as soon as things clear up!

[Java]

I'm glad I could be imformative! :)

Anyway I was looking up some stuff on google about the Tau Herculid meteor shower which is associated with Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 just to see if anything much has been mentioned about what to expect this time around since the comet's break-up plus it's really close passage to earth this time around and after going through a really weird website I found (A Wounded Dragon), they did however link out to another website (more bonefide in my opinion) which was a bit more informative and very graphics intensive too! It shows a pretty good orbital simulation of the largest comet fragments with their tails as they pass through the earth's orbital plane, plus bunches of other great stuff too. It's kind of a cool site if you ask me.

http://www.shadowandsubstance.com/

If you want to be educated and entertained at the same time, this is definitely something worth a peek if not more. :)