09/06/11 – Ephemeris – Comet Elenin self-destructs
Tuesday, September 6th. The sun will rise at 7:10. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 59 minutes, setting at 8:10. The moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 2:17 tomorrow morning.
When Comet Elenin was discovered by Russian astronomer Leonid Elenin using a remotely controlled telescope in New Mexico on December 10th of last year, it was hoped that it would become a bright comet in our skies next month. It would pass between the earth and the sun this month and move ahead of the earth to be briefly a bright comet in the morning sky. Last week astronomers from the southern hemisphere saw its nucleus suddenly elongate and the comet dropped in brightness. It appears that the small solid part of the comet is breaking up. Comets do this on occasion. About 10 years ago or so one of the many Comet Linears simply exploded sending out hundreds of pieces of its nucleus, which evaporated and disappeared.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 