Astronomy Notes

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.

Continue reading ‘The Comet SW3 Won’t Hit The Earth’