|
E |
very day we see the moon, sun, planets and thousands of stars in the sky of our earth. But sometimes a kind of bright guest arrives in the sky. Suddenly it comes for a few days and goes back beyond our eyes again. We identify them as comets. We saw Hell-Bopp or C/1995O1 in 1997. Before that comet we saw the Hyakutake or the C/1996B2 in 1996. Earlier on February 1986 we saw Halley's Comet or 1P/Halley too. In the past few years we have seen PanSTARRS or C/2011L4, Mc'Naught or C/2006P1, Holmes or 17P/Holmes and recently comet NEOWISE or C/2020 F3 has been visible clearly almost entire month of July 2020 at the south-west portion of sky in the northern hemisphere. Beyond that, many famous and unknown comets have appeared to us.
The presence of the
comet in the sky of the earth does not catch our eye. But the question is why
we do not see them ? The answer lies in the orbit or the specific path in which
the comet is rotating. Their orbits are shaped parabolic, hyperbolical or
elliptical. Someone's orbit is huge while someone's orbit is small. For
example, PNK Comet is orbiting the sun once in 3 years and 4 months, and again
Hiyakutake takes 1,13,782 years to complete its one rotation. We often refer
such type of comets as the periodic movable comet. If any comet, on its orbit,
comes under the gravitational force of a planet, it turns into a satellite of
that particular planet. As for example due to the gravitational force of
Jupiter, many comets have become Jupiter's satellite. After a certain period,
the comets move toward the planet and the collision takes place. One such
incident happened in the case of the Schumacher-Levy 9 comet whose central part
was fragmented into 21 separate parts due to heavy gravitational force of
Jupiter. From July 15 to July 22, 1994, all the pieces fell on Jupiter with
tremendous velocity. Even Our earth is in danger of conflicting with a comet. A
comet, named, Swift-Tuttle, has held the catastrophic jeopardy on the fate of
Earth.
Orbit of the Comet
The comets, orbiting the sun in parabolic way, are seldom visible from our solar family. They are the most dangerous in the context of collision with the earth, because they enter into our solar system without leaving any trace. Earth may collide with any of the periodic comets. In this connection, the possibility of a collision with Swift-Tuttle (109P / Swift-Tuttle) is quite high.
About 158 years ago
from today. The date was 15th July 1862, Monday. A New York City resident in
the far United States discovered a comet through his four-inch diameter
refractor binocular at deep night. The inventor's name was Dr. Lewis Swift. Three days after the incident, another gentleman from the
small porch of the Harvard College Observatory on July 18, Thursday, of the same year,
mentioned the discovery of the same comet. The searcher's name was Mr. Horace
Parnell Tuttle. The search revealed that two people had discovered a new comet.
The newly discovered comet was named after Swift-Tuttle after the discovery. When the comet was discovered in 1862, its brightness was
similar to that of Polaris. In those days the
comet was seen with the naked eye, without the aid of binocular.
Dr. Brian G. Marsden, a researcher at the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (C.B.A.T.) of International Astronomical Union (I.S.U.), mentioned in his long computational research that the Swift-Tuttle comet would be closest to the sun on 12th July 2126. After about two and a half weeks, the devastation situation may come. The reason for saying 'may come' is because Dr. Marsden has expressed a little hope. He says the nature of the comet is a little strange. If July 26 of that year, Friday, takes 5 minutes of special respite, that is, the momentum slows down a little; the world can be saved on this journey. If everything would be all right, the comet might come at the shortest distance from Earth on Monday, August 5, 2126 and the distance might be 2,29,00,000 kilometre from the Earth otherwise it has been identified as a possible collision day. Even if Swift-Tuttle will not collide with the Earth in 2126, the risk of danger will not be completely cut off. There is a strong possibility of collision again in the year 3044 during which there will be situation like 2126 again. The comet will come closer to the sun as well as the earth than it would be in 2126. Then the distance of the comet from the earth might be sixteen lakh kilometre. Studies have shown that even if the comet still remains in existence, the Earth and Swift-Tuttle Comet will come back very close to each other near about 15th September , Friday, 4479.
Dr. Brian G. Marsden
Among the heavenly bodies that are estimated to hit the earth, the Swift-Tuttle is the largest in size. Its central part is 25 km in diameter. But if it hits Earth at a speed of 60 km/ second or 2,16,000 km/ hour, scientists estimate that at least twenty-seven times more energy could be emitted than the energy produced during the collision of a Chicxulub comet. The existence of a resistor called Ozone in the Earth's atmosphere would be completely lost after the collision. A cloud of large amounts of dust might cover the entire sky. Sunlight would not come to earth for several months. Earth's average temperature might drop drastically. A deadly long Ice-Age might reign the earth. Many species of plants and animals would be destroyed. The Swift-Tuttle Comet has been identified as the single most dangerous object for human civilization.
So it can be said that
the possibility of collision between the earth and the Swift-Tuttle Comet,
might persist in distant-future if not in near-future. But when Swift-Tuttle
will arrive in 2126, and if there is no collision, there will be a heavenly
display across the sky. There will be an unbelievably,
beautiful light-show, like thousands of crackers lighting up the sky. Thousands of meteoroids will scatter from Swift-Tuttle
and they will be visible in the night sky like rain. The entire sky will be
shining due to the meteor shower. In addition to being the king of the sky, the
great attractor Swift-Tuttle will light the symposium. People of that time will
watch this rare natural phenomenon eagerly which can be understood today only
by imagining it in closed eyes for a little while. The world is now spending time and waiting for the year
2126, between the juncture point of two completely opposite streams,
Destruction and Beauty.
