Doomsday Comet Torn to Pieces
The doomsday comet, Elenin, neared the Earth's orbit and crumbled into tiny pieces on Oct.16, according to scientists at NASA.
The space agency reported that the comet made a trip through the inner solar system in the past few months and quickly approached the Earth. When it neared the planet, the atmosphere tore Elenin apart into broken up pebbles.
Remains of this comet will not return to Earth’s solar system for 12000 years, according to NASA.
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“Elenin did as new comets passing close by the sun do about 2 percent of the time: It broke apart,” said Don Yeomans of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena California in a statement on Monday.
“Elenin’s remnants will alas act as broken-comets act,” Yeomans added. “They will trail along in a debris cloud that will follow a well-understood path out of the inner solar system. After that, we won’t see the scraps of comet Elenin around there parts for 12 millenia.”
Yeoman labeled Elenin as an “ex-comet.”
Comets are easily destroyed, according to Elenin, who described the space object's make-up.
“Comets are made up of ice, rock, dust and organic compounds and can be several miles in diameter, but they are fragile and loosely held together like dust balls,” Yeoman explained. “So it doesn’t take much to get a comet to disintegrate, and with comets, once they break up, there is no hope of reconciliation."
Elenin shot to fame when doomsayers began flooding the Internet with statements about the comet bringing a serious disaster to the Earth.
Some claimed that Elenin would also cause earthquakes on Earth due to its gravitational interactions with the planet.
Others said it was not a comet, but actually a rogue planet called Nibiru that would disrupt life on Earth.
