Technical Information
Object Name: Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3
Distance from the Sun on April 18, 2006: 1.17 Astronomical Units (AU) or 173 million kilometers
Distance from the Earth on April 18, 2006: 0.22 Astronomical Units (AU) or 32 million kilometers
Recently, there are a lot of rumours say that the comets fragments, 73P/ Schwassmann-Wachmann 3(SW3) will hit the Earth and cause severe disaster like killer tsunami or even mass extinctions. Today, the NASA offcials said that it won’t hit the Earth.
First, I shall let you know some basic information of SW3. It circles the Sun every 5.4 years. Astronomers have been tracking it for 75 years. They are confident that any of the icy object’s fragments will remain at least a distant 8.8 million kilometers from Earth — more than 20 times the distance to the moon —at closest approach between May 12 and May 28.
Let’s take a look of the talk from the NASA spokesman.
“There are some Internet stories going around that there’s going to be an impact on May 25,†NASA spokesperson Grey Hautaluoma, told SPACE.com. “We just want to get the facts out.â€
“We are very well acquainted with the trajectory of Comet 73P Schwassmann-Wachmann 3,” said Donald Yeomans, manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office, in a written statement. “There is absolutely no danger to people on the ground or the inhabitants of the International Space Station, as the main body of the object and any pieces from the breakup will pass many millions of miles beyond the Earth.”
Anyway, this comet will be an interesting object to be observed! A small telescope will be enough for this comet. You can try to spot the comet chunks by scanning the constellation Vulpelca during the early-morning hours.
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