did ELENIN make a left turn?

[t.i.w.]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D3aDWqDQdY&feature=player_embedded#!

thanks for any info...

[OICURMT]

:rofl:


BTW: Waste of time... you can interpret whatever you want out of that shoddy video...

[sydneystargazer]

its a trick of the eye because the comet is moving away from the camera and becoming fainter...

Another video on the tube claims that an explosion from Jupiter sent a pulse that changed Elenin's path. Not so.

The pulse was actually a lens flare appearing on the camera as Jupiter disappeared off the right of the video.

RIP Comet elenin

[Ric]

I can't believe I've wasted four minutes of my life watching that. :confused2:

[renormalised]

Take most of what you find on youtube with even less than a grain of salt. Most of it is just ridiculous nonsense posted by people with absolutely no idea of what they're on about. Many of the posts I've read on the net about Elenin are nothing more than some people's deluded fantasies interfering in what were already rather feeble thought processes. Wild imagination on top of an easily fooled personality....gullible, in other words.

Everyone here pretty much covered the topic well.

[ngcles]

Hi t.i.w & All,

As others have correctly noted C/2010 X1 Elenin did not *actually* change direction/course at all, but only appeared to change direction from the perspective of Stereo B.

There is a good short movie here:

http://video.godlikeproductions.com/video/Elenin_Is_Not_Off_Its_Orbit_Aug_31? id=2d66815341df1da3f72

using some widely available planetarium software (Starry Night Pro in this instance) that shows how Comet Elenin *appears* to change course (from the perspective of the Stereo B satellite) and why this is merely a perspective effect. The fact that a lens flare (due to an internal reflection within the camera optics) from Jupiter contemporaneously appears to sweep past Elenin on the CCD chip at the same time is purely coincidental.

There is no energy discharge or "death ray" from Jupiter involved, it is a trick of the camera -- a lens flare. These flares occur every time a bright object (Venus, Jupiter etc etc) exits or enters the field of view of the camera and are perfectly normal. Incidently, Jupiter is about 750 million km from Comet Elenin at the moment and Earth is almost between them. If it were an "energy jolt" from Jupiter to destroy/divert Comet Elenin, why didn't we feel it here on Earth?

The plethora of Youtube videos about Comet Elenin being smashed by this energy bolt from Jupiter originating in the last few days on Youtube and making a big splash on the UFO/conspiracy/lunatic fringe/jibbering idiot websites are made by misguided fools that have no astronomical knowledge whatsoever and extremely limited capacity to interpret the images they are seeing. It is all supposed to be a big NASA secret conspiracy and that they are hiding the truth from us that the Earth will be seriously harmed by Comet Elenin in the next month or so.

In fact, virtually no NASA resources are expended on watching/monitoring/tracking Comet Elenin -- they have virtually no interest in it at all. Most of the work in tracking the brightness, behaviour, movement of Comet Elenin (and the 100's of other known comets) in the solar system is contributed to by 1000's of independent amateur astronomers spread all over the globe who do the job completely out of love for the science -- several are members of this forum. They are on no-one's payroll and answer to no-one. There is no viable conspiracy on this subject unless each and every one of them is involved.

The largest chunk of NASA resources actually devoted to this comet are expended on attempting to debunk and refute the infantile conspiracy theorists and their whack-job ideas that this comet poses a threat to humanity. I find it incredibly sad that such a small band of jibbering idiots (no, not NASA, the makers of the videos) with no training in astronomy at all can influence huge numbers of people and convince them that disaster is imminent. Even sadder, is that there are people out there (or so I read on these conspiracy forums) who are speaking of/contemplating suicide to avoid the supposed coming consequences of Elenin/Nibiru or expending substantial amounts of money to prepare shelters etc based on misguided, unfounded opinions spouted by complete nincompoops (sometimes malicious nincompoops).

I am not angry about this any longer. I feel genuinely sad for those who are recklessly and needlessly being led down this path of paranoia and I'm determined to do my bit to soberly and sincerely clear up the mess created by these fools.

THERE IS NOTHNG TO WORRY ABOUT FROM C/2010 X1 ELENIN.



Best,

Les D

[renormalised]

Know what, Les....give them all a Darwin Award and let them be to do what they apparently want to do. No amount of sane and serious conversational intervention is going to change their minds (what little they possessed in the first place). If they want to remove their DNA from the collective gene pool, that's their prerogative. Just only goes to show you how gullible and easily led they are.

I feel more sorry for those around them that are affected by their actions. They're the ones who are going to have to live with anything these fools end up doing. It would actually be a joke if only some of these twits weren't so serious.

[jjjnettie]

And most of them won't learn from this. The excuses will be given as to why the comet didn't smash into earth and the spaceship following it will probably crash into the sun. Then give them a couple of months and they'll all jump on board the next doomsday band wagon.

[mishku]

hmmm... i don't know, jjj, i'm still wearing my tinfoil hat for protection all the same :lol:

[AstralTraveller]

tinfoil hat??? :question: Do I need a tinfoil hat this time?? You mean spreading sheep entrails around the yard and burning incense has been a waste of time? Could that guru in the glossy magazine be mistaken? This really is challenging my perception of reality. But if you say so mishku I'll do it - after all you have such a nice mystic name. But no matter what you say I'm stickin' with the lead undies. :thumbsup:

[jjjnettie]

I've left room for you in the bunker I'm digging in under my house. I've baked enough triple choc fudge brownies to last us 6 weeks. :D

[renormalised]

You do realise that chocolate was a mind altering substance brought to Earth by Quetzacoatl and his band of merry ancient aliens back in the dim distance past to wrench control of Sth America off of the Zeta Reticulans.

It's a conspiracy, you know:):P:P:P

[jjjnettie]

Have you got your latest cheque from NASA yet Carl?
I'm putting mine towards a new scope.

[renormalised]

No...it better be a good one, though:)

[renormalised]

Damn....I left me iPad on my desk out at Area51. I hope that pesky Grey I ran into yesterday doesn't go trying to reprogram it, like my wristwatch. It'll be a one way trip to the Alnitak sludge mines for him if he does:):):P:P:P

[Rob_K]

Well put Les, that's got to be the bottom line. All anyone is seeing is a somewhat mediocre comet conforming precisely to its calculated orbit (calculated to a large extent by amateurs, using principally amateur data), and now sputtering & fading away as its volatile resources are depleted. And there's nothing unusual in that. It's been the fate of a number of tiny, long period comets in the past.

It's frightening how easily a world-wide movement based on misinformation, misrepresentation and ignorance can flourish. Thanks for nothing Bill Gates! ;)

Cheers -

[mishku]

jjj is so clever... she knows she doesnt need to bake a supply to last any longer than six weeks, since the mere thought of triple choc fudge brownies is enough to induce a hypertonic, hyperglycaemic catatonic state. :rofl:

the sugar shock will do us in looooong before the alien NASA conspiracy spacecraft hiding behind the comets/on jupiter :lol:

[AstralTraveller]

You reckon anything chocolate can last 6 weeks?? Never happens in my house.

[renormalised]

You mean thanks for nothing Tim Berners-Lee. He invented the WWW.

The only reason why there's so much nonsense on the net is because any fool can have their say on there. What this requires of society is a much better standard of education, for everyone. Critical and lateral thinking should be taught and encouraged right from the moment a child enters school. Then reinforced all through their learning. That way, fewer people would be taken in by these idiots because the general populace would understand a lot better and maybe even know something more substantive and useful.

[bojan]

Only wandering, who will do this ???

[ArcaneMagik]

I can't wait for the day that someone on Youtube notices that the planets appear to go backwards in their motion across the sky. Obviously it will be due to ancient aliens.

[renormalised]

The teachers are going to have to do this, for the most part. Most parents aren't equipped to be able to teach this. So, they're going to have to revamp the way teachers are taught, as well.

[bojan]

And who will educate teachers ? There are not enough teachers for the job :P :lol:

More and more often "Idiocracy" is coming to my mind in recent days.

[Poita]

I'm nearly finished my teaching degree and a big change is the massive push to create creative and lateral thinking with students. We are now also meant to be teaching algebraic thinking from kindergarten onwards, across all strands, not just mathematics. So there is a focus on it. I still have to deal with that once a week interruption were creationism and many other topics are being taughts as facts though, which doesn't help.

[renormalised]

Peter, it's not about creative thinking. Give kids the encouragement they need and they'll be as creative as their individual abilities will take them. It's the ability to be able to think critically and clearly about a subject which is seriously lacking in students (and in the general population as a whole). Being able to look at a subject, no matter how outrageous it might seem and to judge the strength of that subject based on its merits (value of the data, internal consistency etc etc), rather than on opinion and subjective reasoning. This is also where lateral thinking comes in handy because sometimes seeing the merits of a subject requires that you think outside of the box, taking a tack you wouldn't ordinarily otherwise consider. Being able to see the connections even if they appear obscure and not necessarily linear in function.

[renormalised]

It's not that there aren't enough teachers for the job. There's plenty. It's a case of those teachers not being equipped themselves to teach in such a manner. Mainly because they were never taught this way, themselves. It's more a matter of curriculum policy and implementation of the proper teaching strategy that will enable the instruction of teachers into how to think critically and clearly. It's also the same approach where teaching students as well, is concerned.