Elenin: Comet or Brown Dwarf?

According to NASA:  "Comet Elenin (also known by its astronomical name C/2010 X1), was first detected on Dec. 10, 2010 by Leonid Elenin, an observer in Lyubertsy, Russia, who made the discovery "remotely" using the ISON-NM observatory near Mayhill, New Mexico."


Conspiracy theorists believe that Elenin, however, isn't a comet, but rather a Brown Dwarf star.  Although, NASA has officially denied the claim, there are some interesting coincidences of major earthquakes occurring simultaneously with alignments of the Sun, Earth, and Elenin (hat tip: Chaukeedeaar's Blog).  All images below are curtesy of the JPL Small-Body Database Browser.

February 27, 2010 - Chile - 8.8 (6th largest in last 100 years):

September 4, 2010 - Christchurch, NZ - 7.2:

March 15, 2011 - Japan (occurred on 3/11) - 9.0 (4th largest in last 100 years):

The next alignment will occur on September 27, 2011:

and November 23, 2011:

Will there be a major earthquake to further support the theory or will the conspiracy theory be exposed for what it is?  Were the Mayans a year late?


Other significant dates include:

October 12, 2011 - Closest point:

November 5, 2011 - Entering the tail (indirectly as the comet is slightly off the ecliptic):

RIP: Ulysses Spacecraft

After almost 17 years in orbit, the Ulysses spacecraft (launched from the space shuttle Discovery on October 6, 1990) suffered a fatal altitude-control system defect and was forced to end its mission on June 30th. The satellite was originally designed to study the solar wind and interstellar dust from an orthogonal orbit around the sun's poles over a 5-year period. It has been called "one of the most productive science missions ever flown."

Here are a few of the scientific gems we got from Ulysses:

• Extended knowledge of the sun's influence on its surroundings through its outflowing solar wind from two dimensions into three
• The sun's magnetic field can capture charged particles ejected from the sun's poles and redirect them toward Earth and the other planets
• Created a massive change in the way we think about the global structure of the solar wind and the sun's magnetic field
• Found a surprising amount of neutral helium atoms arriving from deep space in interstellar dust--a find from which scientists have deduced that the universe contains too little matter to halt its expansion. And the spacecraft found that the dust itself was 30 times more abundant than expected.

Spying for China

A former Boeing engineer was just convicted of handing over secrets on the space shuttle and Delta IV rocket to China. I can only imagine what this news would mean if there was a Cold-War-style relationship between us and China. I guess that is one positive side effect of them owning a healthy portion of our national debt...

How has this story not made bigger headlines?

40th Anniversary of the Moon Landing

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, NASA has released newly restored footage of the iconic event.



At a time when we are facing so many crises, this is a great reminder of what we can accomplish as a nation if we dedicate enough time and money.