CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html> <html class="client-nojs" lang="en" dir="ltr"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"/> <title>Comet Elenin - RationalWiki</title> <script>document.documentElement.className="client-js";RLCONF={"wgBreakFrames":!1,"wgSeparatorTransformTable":["",""],"wgDigitTransformTable":["",""],"wgDefaultDateFormat":"dmy","wgMonthNames":["","January","February","March","April","May","June","July","August","September","October","November","December"],"wgRequestId":"Z74FmCME2ErTYY9aYaeSRwAAAMQ","wgCSPNonce":!1,"wgCanonicalNamespace":"","wgCanonicalSpecialPageName":!1,"wgNamespaceNumber":0,"wgPageName":"Comet_Elenin","wgTitle":"Comet Elenin","wgCurRevisionId":2688235,"wgRevisionId":2688235,"wgArticleId":114171,"wgIsArticle":!0,"wgIsRedirect":!1,"wgAction":"view","wgUserName":null,"wgUserGroups":["*"],"wgCategories":["Pages using DynamicPageList parser function","Articles needing updates","Silver-level articles","Conspiracy theories","Astronomy","Pseudoastronomy","End of the world"],"wgPageContentLanguage":"en","wgPageContentModel":"wikitext","wgRelevantPageName":"Comet_Elenin","wgRelevantArticleId":114171, "wgIsProbablyEditable":!0,"wgRelevantPageIsProbablyEditable":!0,"wgRestrictionEdit":[],"wgRestrictionMove":[],"wgMediaViewerOnClick":!0,"wgMediaViewerEnabledByDefault":!0};RLSTATE={"site.styles":"ready","noscript":"ready","user.styles":"ready","user":"ready","user.options":"loading","ext.cite.styles":"ready","skins.vector.styles.legacy":"ready","mediawiki.toc.styles":"ready"};RLPAGEMODULES=["ext.cite.ux-enhancements","site","mediawiki.page.startup","mediawiki.page.ready","mediawiki.toc","skins.vector.legacy.js","ext.gadget.ReferenceTooltips","mmv.head","mmv.bootstrap.autostart"];</script> <script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.loader.implement("user.options@1hzgi",function($,jQuery,require,module){/*@nomin*/mw.user.tokens.set({"patrolToken":"+\\","watchToken":"+\\","csrfToken":"+\\"}); });});</script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=ext.cite.styles%7Cmediawiki.toc.styles%7Cskins.vector.styles.legacy&only=styles&skin=vector"/> <script async="" src="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=startup&only=scripts&raw=1&skin=vector"></script> <meta name="ResourceLoaderDynamicStyles" content=""/> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=site.styles&only=styles&skin=vector"/> <meta name="generator" content="MediaWiki 1.35.6"/> <meta name="description" content="Comet C/2010 X1 (Elenin), a.k.a. Comet Elenin to the media and everyone who doesn't know how to read the IAU's designations, was a comet discovered in the end of 2010 that reached its first known perihelion (closest point to the Sun in its orbit) in September 2011, disintegrating shortly afterwards. It's notable mostly for being the first comet discovered by a Russian in the last 20 years. Oh, and the fact that an assortment of cranks, conspiracy theorists and/or End Times/Rapture believers latched onto it for a variety of reasons. Due to the latter, it can be used as a case study in how doomsday conspiracy theories originate, develop and spread."/> <link rel="alternate" type="application/x-wiki" title="Edit" href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit"/> <link rel="edit" title="Edit" href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit"/> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/favicon.ico"/> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="/w/opensearch_desc.php" title="RationalWiki (en)"/> <link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" href="https://rationalwiki.org/w/api.php?action=rsd"/> <link rel="license" href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Copyrights"/> <link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="RationalWiki Atom feed" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&feed=atom"/> <meta property="og:type" content="article"/> <meta property="og:site_name" content="RationalWiki"/> <meta property="og:title" content="Comet Elenin"/> <meta property="og:description" content="Comet C/2010 X1 (Elenin), a.k.a. Comet Elenin to the media and everyone who doesn't know how to read the IAU's designations, was a comet discovered in the end of 2010 that reached its first known perihelion (closest point to the Sun in its orbit) in September 2011, disintegrating shortly afterwards. It's notable mostly for being the first comet discovered by a Russian in the last 20 years. Oh, and the fact that an assortment of cranks, conspiracy theorists and/or End Times/Rapture believers latched onto it for a variety of reasons. Due to the latter, it can be used as a case study in how doomsday conspiracy theories originate, develop and spread."/> <meta property="og:url" content="https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Comet_Elenin"/>  </head> <body class="mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject mw-editable page-Comet_Elenin rootpage-Comet_Elenin skin-vector action-view minerva--history-page-action-enabled skin-vector-legacy"> <div id="mw-page-base" class="noprint"></div> <div id="mw-head-base" class="noprint"></div> <div id="content" class="mw-body" role="main"> <a id="top"></a> <div id="siteNotice" class="mw-body-content"><div id="localNotice" lang="en" dir="ltr"><div id="2025_RationalWiki_.27Oregon_Plan.27_Fundraiser"> <table role="presentation" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto; width: 100%;"> <tbody><tr> <td style="width: 60%; text-align: left;"><big><center><b><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Fundraiser" title="RationalWiki:Fundraiser">2025 RationalWiki 'Oregon Plan' Fundraiser</a></b></center></big> <p><b>There is no RationalWiki without you.</b> We are a small non-profit with no staff—we are hundreds of volunteers who document pseudoscience and crankery around the world every day. We will never allow ads because we must remain independent. We cannot rely on big donors with corresponding big agendas. We are not the largest website around, but <a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Fundraiser" title="RationalWiki:Fundraiser">we believe we play an important role in defending truth and objectivity</a>. </p> </td> <td style="width: 40%; text-align: center;"><big><b><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Fundraiser" title="RationalWiki:Fundraiser">Fighting pseudoscience isn't free</a>.<br />We are 100% user-supported! Help and donate $5, $10, $20 or whatever you can today with <img alt="PayPal Logo.png" src="/w/images/thumb/f/fb/PayPal_Logo.png/61px-PayPal_Logo.png" decoding="async" width="61" height="17" srcset="/w/images/thumb/f/fb/PayPal_Logo.png/92px-PayPal_Logo.png 1.5x, /w/images/thumb/f/fb/PayPal_Logo.png/122px-PayPal_Logo.png 2x" data-file-width="883" data-file-height="244" />!</b></big><a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=67BJMQC85CUFW" title="Donate via PayPal" rel="nofollow"><img alt="" src="/w/images/thumb/1/10/DonateButton.png/100px-DonateButton.png" decoding="async" width="100" height="32" srcset="/w/images/thumb/1/10/DonateButton.png/150px-DonateButton.png 1.5x, /w/images/thumb/1/10/DonateButton.png/200px-DonateButton.png 2x" data-file-width="759" data-file-height="241" /></a> </td></tr></tbody></table> <div role="progressbar" style="width: 100%; border: 2px solid black; position: relative; padding: 2px; border-radius: 18px;"> <a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Fundraiser" title="RationalWiki:Fundraiser"><span style="text-shadow: -1px -1px 0 #FFFFFF, 1px -1px 0 #FFFFFF, -1px 1px 0 #FFFFFF, 1px 1px 0 #FFFFFF; color: black; font-size: 125%; position: absolute; left: 0%; margin: 0 0 0 10px"><b>Donations so far: $2973.89</b></span></a><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Fundraiser" title="RationalWiki:Fundraiser"><span style="text-shadow: -1px -1px 0 #FFFFFF, 1px -1px 0 #FFFFFF, -1px 1px 0 #FFFFFF, 1px 1px 0 #FFFFFF; color: black; font-size: 125%; position: absolute; right: 0%; margin: 0 10px 0 0"><b>Goal: $10000</b></span></a><div style="height: 28px; border-radius: 14px; background-color: hsl(23.79112,100%,45%); width: 29.7389%;"></div> </div></div></div></div> <div class="mw-indicators mw-body-content"> <div id="mw-indicator-silver" class="mw-indicator"><a href="/wiki/Category:Silver-level_articles" title="Category:Silver-level articles"><img alt="Silver-level article" src="/w/images/thumb/d/dd/Silverbrain.png/25px-Silverbrain.png" decoding="async" width="25" height="25" style="vertical-align: baseline" srcset="/w/images/thumb/d/dd/Silverbrain.png/38px-Silverbrain.png 1.5x, /w/images/thumb/d/dd/Silverbrain.png/50px-Silverbrain.png 2x" data-file-width="800" data-file-height="800" /></a></div> </div> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" lang="en">Comet Elenin</h1> <div id="bodyContent" class="mw-body-content"> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From RationalWiki</div> <div id="contentSub"></div> <div id="contentSub2"></div> <div id="jump-to-nav"></div> <a class="mw-jump-link" href="#mw-head">Jump to navigation</a> <a class="mw-jump-link" href="#searchInput">Jump to search</a> <div id="mw-content-text" lang="en" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr"><div class="mw-parser-output"><div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:167px;"><a href="/wiki/File:Elenin_1aug2011_zoom.jpg" class="image"><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/Elenin_1aug2011_zoom.jpg/165px-Elenin_1aug2011_zoom.jpg" decoding="async" width="165" height="164" class="thumbimage" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/Elenin_1aug2011_zoom.jpg/248px-Elenin_1aug2011_zoom.jpg 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/Elenin_1aug2011_zoom.jpg/330px-Elenin_1aug2011_zoom.jpg 2x" data-file-width="500" data-file-height="498" /></a> <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><a href="/wiki/File:Elenin_1aug2011_zoom.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"></a></div>Comet Elenin</div></div></div> <table class="infobox" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="float: right; margin: 0 0 0.5em 0.5em; text-align:left; border: 1px solid #ff6600; width:175px;"> <tbody><tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center; color:White; background-color:#ff6600"><b>Some dare call it</b><br /><a href="/wiki/Conspiracy_theory" title="Conspiracy theory"><font size="4" color="White"><b>Conspiracy</b></font></a> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="background-color:#ffe6d5;" align="center"><a href="/wiki/Category:Conspiracy_theories" title="Category:Conspiracy theories"><img alt="Icon conspiracy.svg" src="/w/images/thumb/5/58/Icon_conspiracy.svg/100px-Icon_conspiracy.svg.png" decoding="async" width="100" height="100" srcset="/w/images/thumb/5/58/Icon_conspiracy.svg/150px-Icon_conspiracy.svg.png 1.5x, /w/images/thumb/5/58/Icon_conspiracy.svg/200px-Icon_conspiracy.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="195" data-file-height="195" /></a> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:White; background-color:#ff6600; text-align:center;"><b>What <i>THEY</i> don't want<br />you to know!</b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#ffe6d5;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/The_American_Dream_(film)" title="The American Dream (film)">The American Dream (film)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/International_Jewish_conspiracy" title="International Jewish conspiracy">International Jewish conspiracy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Free_energy_suppression" title="Free energy suppression">Free energy suppression</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Linda_Moulton_Howe" title="Linda Moulton Howe">Linda Moulton Howe</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Agenda_21" title="Agenda 21">Agenda 21</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/United_Nations" title="United Nations">United Nations</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Philip_Young_(espa%C3%B1ol)" title="Philip Young (español)">Philip Young (español)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Transvestigation" title="Transvestigation">Transvestigation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Plandemic" title="Plandemic">Plandemic</a></li></ul> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:White; background-color:#ff6600; text-align:center;"><b><a href="/wiki/Sheeple" title="Sheeple"><span style="color:white">Sheeple</span></a> <a href="/wiki/Wake_up" title="Wake up"><span style="color:white">wakers</span></a></b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#ffe6d5;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Mike_Malloy" title="Mike Malloy">Mike Malloy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pravda.ru" title="Pravda.ru">Pravda.ru</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/L._Fletcher_Prouty" title="L. Fletcher Prouty">L. Fletcher Prouty</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Paul_Austin_Murphy" title="Paul Austin Murphy">Paul Austin Murphy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/James_Corbett" title="James Corbett">James Corbett</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Michael_Hughes" title="Michael Hughes">Michael Hughes</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lee_Harvey_Oswald" title="Lee Harvey Oswald">Lee Harvey Oswald</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/David_Icke" title="David Icke">David Icke</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Murder_of_Lee_Rigby" title="Murder of Lee Rigby">Murder of Lee Rigby</a></li></ul> <div class="vte plainlinks" style="font-size:smaller; text-align:center;"><a href="/wiki/Template:Conspiracynav" title="Template:Conspiracynav">v</a> - <a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Conspiracynav" title="Template talk:Conspiracynav">t</a> - <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Conspiracynav&action=edit">e</a></div> </td></tr></tbody></table> <table class="infobox" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="float: right; margin: 0 0 0.5em 0.5em; text-align:left; border: 1px solid #000080; width:175px;"> <tbody><tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center; color:White; background-color:#000080"><b>It's not rocket science, it's...</b><br /><a href="/wiki/Astronomy" title="Astronomy"><font size="4" color="White"><b>Astronomy</b></font></a> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="background-color:#a9a9ff;" align="center"><a href="/wiki/Category:Astronomy" title="Category:Astronomy"><img alt="Icon astronomy.svg" src="/w/images/thumb/8/8b/Icon_astronomy.svg/100px-Icon_astronomy.svg.png" decoding="async" width="100" height="100" srcset="/w/images/thumb/8/8b/Icon_astronomy.svg/150px-Icon_astronomy.svg.png 1.5x, /w/images/thumb/8/8b/Icon_astronomy.svg/200px-Icon_astronomy.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="200" data-file-height="200" /></a> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:White; background-color:#000080; text-align:center;"><b>The Final Frontier</b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#a9a9ff;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Mars" title="Mars">Mars</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hawking_radiation" title="Hawking radiation">Hawking radiation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Exoplanet" title="Exoplanet">Exoplanet</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Origin_of_the_Moon" title="Origin of the Moon">Origin of the Moon</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Heliocentrism" title="Heliocentrism">Heliocentrism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Vatican_Observatory" title="Vatican Observatory">Vatican Observatory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Universe" title="Universe">Universe</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Moon" title="Moon">Moon</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gravity" title="Gravity">Gravity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Quaoar" title="Quaoar">Quaoar</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Foucault%27s_pendulum" title="Foucault's pendulum">Foucault's pendulum</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/The_Final_Experiment" title="The Final Experiment">The Final Experiment</a></li></ul> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:white; background-color:#000080; text-align:center;"><b>The abyss stares back</b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#a9a9ff;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Richard_Hoagland" title="Richard Hoagland">Richard Hoagland</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus" title="Nicolaus Copernicus">Nicolaus Copernicus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Edwin_Hubble" title="Edwin Hubble">Edwin Hubble</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Neil_deGrasse_Tyson" title="Neil deGrasse Tyson">Neil deGrasse Tyson</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tycho_Brahe" title="Tycho Brahe">Tycho Brahe</a></li></ul> <div class="vte plainlinks" style="font-size:smaller; text-align:center;"><a href="/wiki/Template:Astronomy" title="Template:Astronomy">v</a> - <a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Astronomy" title="Template talk:Astronomy">t</a> - <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Astronomy&action=edit">e</a></div> </td></tr></tbody></table> <p><br /> </p> <table class="messagebox mb-brainwatermark plainlinks mb-info" style=""> <tbody><tr> <td class="mb-image"><a href="/wiki/File:Information_icon.svg" class="image"><img alt="Information icon.svg" src="/w/images/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/50px-Information_icon.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="50" srcset="/w/images/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/75px-Information_icon.svg.png 1.5x, /w/images/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/100px-Information_icon.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="620" data-file-height="620" /></a> </td> <td class="mb-text"><b>This article requires updating.</b> Please help by <b><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit">revising it</a>.</b> <table class="messagebox mb-question" style=""> <tbody><tr> <td class="mb-image"><a href="/wiki/File:Question_icon.svg" class="image"><img alt="Question icon.svg" src="/w/images/thumb/1/19/Question_icon.svg/50px-Question_icon.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="50" srcset="/w/images/thumb/1/19/Question_icon.svg/75px-Question_icon.svg.png 1.5x, /w/images/thumb/1/19/Question_icon.svg/100px-Question_icon.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="620" data-file-height="620" /></a> </td> <td class="mb-text">Information in this article may be false or unreliable due to recent (or not so recent) developments including new studies and new perspectives. </td></tr></tbody></table> </td></tr></tbody></table> <p>Comet <b>C/2010 X1 (Elenin)</b>, a.k.a. <b>Comet Elenin</b> to the media and everyone who doesn't know how to read the IAU's designations, was a <a href="/wiki/Comet" title="Comet">comet</a> discovered in the end of 2010 that reached its first known perihelion (closest point to the Sun in its orbit) in September 2011, disintegrating shortly afterwards. It's notable mostly for being the first comet discovered by a Russian in the last 20 years. Oh, and the fact that an assortment of <a href="/wiki/Cranks" class="mw-redirect" title="Cranks">cranks</a>, <a href="/wiki/Conspiracy_theorist" class="mw-redirect" title="Conspiracy theorist">conspiracy theorists</a> and/or <a href="/wiki/End_Times" class="mw-redirect" title="End Times">End Times</a>/<a href="/wiki/Rapture" title="Rapture">Rapture</a> believers latched onto it for a variety of reasons. Due to the latter, it can be used as a case study in how doomsday conspiracy theories originate, develop and spread. </p><p>(The designation means that this is the first (X<b>1</b>) not-short-periodic comet (<b>C</b>) discovered in the first half of December 2010 (<b>2010 X</b>1) and the last name of the discoverer is Elenin.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1">[1]</a></sup>) </p> <div id="toc" class="toc" role="navigation" aria-labelledby="mw-toc-heading"><input type="checkbox" role="button" id="toctogglecheckbox" class="toctogglecheckbox" style="display:none" /><div class="toctitle" lang="en" dir="ltr"><h2 id="mw-toc-heading">Contents</h2><span class="toctogglespan"><label class="toctogglelabel" for="toctogglecheckbox"></label></span></div> <ul> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="#Discovery"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">Discovery</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="#Woo"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">Woo</span></a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3"><a href="#OMG.2C_the_name.21"><span class="tocnumber">2.1</span> <span class="toctext">OMG, the name!</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4"><a href="#Elenin.27s_existence"><span class="tocnumber">2.2</span> <span class="toctext">Elenin's existence</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5"><a href="#It.27s_a_COMET.2C_get_over_it.21"><span class="tocnumber">2.3</span> <span class="toctext">It's a COMET, get over it!</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6"><a href="#Media_dis-interest"><span class="tocnumber">2.4</span> <span class="toctext">Media dis-interest</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-7"><a href="#Buzz_about_the_Buzzroom"><span class="tocnumber">2.5</span> <span class="toctext">Buzz about the Buzzroom</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8"><a href="#Alleged_alignments"><span class="tocnumber">2.6</span> <span class="toctext">Alleged alignments</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9"><a href="#The_arXiv_papers"><span class="tocnumber">2.7</span> <span class="toctext">The arXiv papers</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10"><a href="#Other_bodies.3F"><span class="tocnumber">2.8</span> <span class="toctext">Other bodies?</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-11"><a href="#JPL.27s_Small-Body_Database_Browser"><span class="tocnumber">2.9</span> <span class="toctext">JPL's Small-Body Database Browser</span></a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-12"><a href="#Date_of_the_perihelion"><span class="tocnumber">2.9.1</span> <span class="toctext">Date of the perihelion</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-13"><a href="#Otto_Matic"><span class="tocnumber">2.9.2</span> <span class="toctext">Otto Matic</span></a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-14"><a href="#Game_Over.2C_Man.21.2C_Game_Over.21"><span class="tocnumber">2.10</span> <span class="toctext">Game Over, Man!, Game Over!</span></a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-15"><a href="#Pictures"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">Pictures</span></a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-16"><a href="#Non-pictures"><span class="tocnumber">3.1</span> <span class="toctext">Non-pictures</span></a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-17"><a href="#External_links"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">External links</span></a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-18"><a href="#Leonid_Elenin"><span class="tocnumber">4.1</span> <span class="toctext">Leonid Elenin</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-19"><a href="#Media_coverage"><span class="tocnumber">4.2</span> <span class="toctext">Media coverage</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-20"><a href="#Nutters"><span class="tocnumber">4.3</span> <span class="toctext">Nutters</span></a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-21"><a href="#Notes"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">Notes</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-22"><a href="#References"><span class="tocnumber">6</span> <span class="toctext">References</span></a></li> </ul> </div> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Discovery">Discovery</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Discovery">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <p>The comet was discovered on 10 December 2010 by <b>Leonid Elenin</b> (Russian: Леонид Еленин), a Russian amateur astronomer,<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2">[note 1]</a></sup> using a remotely operated telescope located near Mayhill, <a href="/wiki/New_Mexico" class="mw-redirect" title="New Mexico">New Mexico</a>. </p><p>As the circumstances are slightly unusual and part of the conspiracy claims concern Leonid Elenin's observatory itself,<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3">[note 2]</a></sup> some boooring background details are necessary. The observatory's name is "ISON-NM", as it is a part of the International Scientific Optical Network<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4">[note 3]</a></sup> — an international network of observers that performs collaborative tasks such as looking for space debris, NEOs (near-Earth objects) and gamma-ray bursts. The observatory consists of a single telescope in a shed on the grounds of the New Mexico Skies astronomy hosting company.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5">[2]</a></sup> The telescope itself is a Centurion-18.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6">[3]</a></sup> It has an 18-inch mirror and it's fitted with an FLI ML09000-65 astronomical imaging camera in the primary focus.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7">[4]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8">[note 4]</a></sup> Its field of view is 1.65 х 1.65 degrees of arc. The observatory saw "first light" on 21 May 2010, started test exploitation by 6 June, received a Minor Planet Center number (H15) on 7 June and discovered its first <a href="/wiki/Asteroid" title="Asteroid">asteroid</a> between 5 and 21 July. More information, including pictures and a description of the setup can be found on the Russian site of the ISON/PulKON project.<sup id="cite_ref-ison-first_9-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-ison-first-9">[5]</a></sup> </p> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Woo">Woo</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Woo">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <p>It seems that the wild speculation snowball was sent rolling by a series of posts on <a href="/wiki/Laura_Knight-Jadczyk" title="Laura Knight-Jadczyk">Laura Knight-Jadczyk</a>'s blog in January 2011. In her first post about the comet,<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10">[6]</a></sup> LKJ cited <a href="/wiki/James_McCanney" title="James McCanney">James McCanney</a>'s "electric comet" "theory" and predicted that the comet will affect the Earth, as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Hale-Bopp" class="extiw" title="wp:Comet Hale-Bopp" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: Comet Hale-Bopp">Hale-Bopp</span></a><sup><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup> purportedly did in the 1990s. (McCanney was one of the... individuals featured on <a href="/wiki/Phil_Plait" title="Phil Plait">Phil Plait</a>'s original <i>Bad Astronomy</i> website and <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/mccanney/index.html">the page about him</a> is still online.) A couple of YouTube videos followed, spreading like a wildfire through the conspiracy forums (such as <a href="/wiki/ATS" class="mw-redirect" title="ATS">ATS</a> and <a href="/wiki/GLP" class="mw-redirect" title="GLP">GLP</a>), and the rest is history. The comet continues to generate forum and blog posts and YouTube videos to this day (late July 2011). </p><p>Different permutations of the following claims have been tossed around: </p> <ul><li>Comet Elenin will impact the Earth/shower it with deadly debris from its tail - this is relatively tame, garden variety apocalypse mongering - such claims surround every comet that comes to the attention of some nut.</li> <li>Comet Elenin's appearance is a portent of doom (oh, come on, are we still in the bloody <a href="/wiki/Middle_Ages" title="Middle Ages">Middle Ages</a>?)</li> <li>Comet Elenin's alignment with the Earth causes disasters, e.g. the February 2010 <a href="/wiki/Chile" title="Chile">Chile</a> earthquake<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11">[7]</a></sup> and later, the March 2011 <a href="/wiki/Japan" title="Japan">Japan</a> earthquake (see <a href="#Alleged_alignments">#Alleged alignments</a> below)</li> <li>Comet Elenin is being followed by alien spacecraft (<a href="/wiki/Heaven%27s_Gate" title="Heaven's Gate">Heaven's Gate</a> redux?)</li> <li>Comet Elenin is a cover for the existence of <a href="/wiki/Planet_X" title="Planet X">Planet X</a>/<a href="/wiki/Nibiru" title="Nibiru">Nibiru</a>, no such comet exists <ul><li>Comet Elenin is actually a <a href="/wiki/Brown_dwarf" title="Brown dwarf">brown dwarf</a></li> <li>Comet Elenin is actually a "SUPERMASSIVE BLACK CARBON STAR"<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-12">[8]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-13">[9]</a></sup> (<a href="/wiki/CW_Leonis" title="CW Leonis">CW Leonis</a><sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-14">[10]</a></sup>)</li></ul></li> <li>Comet Elenin is "the physical form of old <a href="/wiki/Lucifer" class="mw-redirect" title="Lucifer">Lucifer</a>"<sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-15">[11]</a></sup></li> <li>Comet Elenin is an "<a href="/wiki/Electric_comet" class="mw-redirect" title="Electric comet">electric comet</a>" and this will somehow negatively affect Earth</li> <li>Comet Elenin will eclipse the Sun and cause "three days of darkness" around 27 September.</li> <li>The <a href="/wiki/Escape_hatch" title="Escape hatch">escape hatch</a>: the noise about Comet Elenin is a "<a href="/wiki/Psyop" class="mw-redirect" title="Psyop">psyop</a>"/disinformation campaign covering something else/preparing the "<a href="/wiki/Sheeple" title="Sheeple">sheeple</a>" for a some event/trying to discredit the people who make apocalyptic predictions.</li></ul> <p>Claims that Leonid Elenin doesn't exist or that he is a NASA/someone else's <a href="/wiki/Shill" class="mw-redirect" title="Shill">shill</a> are also thrown in. </p><p>Fallout from all the conspiracy-mongering started appearing in unexpected places, such as the comment threads of the discoverer's blog, NASA's <i>Ask an Astrobiologist</i> educational outreach website,<sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-16">[12]</a></sup> and Discovery News.<sup id="cite_ref-discovery_17-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-discovery-17">[13]</a></sup> </p><p>Among the most batshit insane are the hilarious "reports" of "<a href="/wiki/Sorcha_Faal" title="Sorcha Faal">Sorcha Faal</a>". In March, the first one claimed that the comet is under intelligent control.<sup id="cite_ref-18" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-18">[14]</a></sup> In June, another "report" repeated the fake claim that Chinese scientists have seen UFOs trailing the comet and included a deceptively cropped image.<sup id="cite_ref-faal-ufos_19-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-faal-ufos-19">[15]</a></sup> The "reports" have been republished in several places, including the <a href="/wiki/European_Union_Times" title="European Union Times">European Union Times</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-20" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-20">[16]</a></sup> but Sorcha Faal is generally considered to be a crap source even by the conspiracy crowd. </p> <h3><span id="OMG,_the_name!"></span><span class="mw-headline" id="OMG.2C_the_name.21">OMG, the name!</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: OMG, the name!">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>A lot of the noise seems to have been prompted by the comet's name (or more exactly, the discoverer's name). Attempts to uncover some hidden meaning have produced hilarious exercises in verbal <a href="/wiki/Pareidolia" title="Pareidolia">pareidolia</a>: </p> <ul><li>Someone noticed that "Elenin" contains "ELE" ("<a href="/wiki/Extinction_level_event" class="mw-redirect" title="Extinction level event">extinction level event</a>"), the term used for the (results of the) comet impact in the movie <i>Deep Impact</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-21" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-21">[note 5]</a></sup> Several other <a href="/wiki/Coincidence" title="Coincidence">coincidences</a> sent the conspiratorial <s>thinking</s> imagination into overdrive: in the movie, the comet is discovered by a teenager named <i>Leo</i> Biederman, which is similar to <i>Leo</i>nid Elenin,<sup id="cite_ref-22" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-22">[note 6]</a></sup> and <a href="/wiki/Barack_Obama" title="Barack Obama">the president of the United States is black</a>.</li> <li>Someone else expanded it to "ELE NINe". Good try, but it's a pity that there are only five major mass extinctions and a dozen or so lesser ones.</li> <li>Filed under "the Universe revolves around the US" (but still uses European-style dates) is "<a href="/wiki/9/11" title="9/11">ELEven NINe</a>", sometimes paired with the claim that the comet will reach its perihelion or closest approach to Earth on 11 September 2011.<sup id="cite_ref-wikipedia-anon_23-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-wikipedia-anon-23">[17]</a></sup> The current scientific projection for the perihelion is 10 September 2011 (and no, even in a US timezone it's not the 11th) and for the closest approach is 16 October.</li> <li>"E <a href="/wiki/Lenin" class="mw-redirect" title="Lenin">Lenin</a>". Come on, guys, the <a href="/wiki/Cold_War" title="Cold War">Cold War</a> is over! And Lenin was "V.I.", not "E."</li> <li>"<b>E</b>XTINTION <b>L</b>EVEL <b>E</b>VENT <a href="/wiki/Nibiru" title="Nibiru"><b>N</b>IBIRU</a> <b>I</b>S <b>N</b>EAR"<sup id="cite_ref-wikipedia-anon_23-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-wikipedia-anon-23">[17]</a></sup></li> <li>"<b>E</b>XTINTION <b>L</b>EVEL <b>E</b>VENT <b>N</b>IBIRU <b>I</b>N <b>N</b>OVEMBER"</li> <li>"<b>E</b>XTINTION <b>L</b>EVEL <b>E</b>VENT <b>N</b>ON-AVOIDABLE <b>I</b>MPACT IN <b>N</b>OVEMBER"</li> <li>"Extinction Level Event Niburu Inbound Now"</li></ul> <p>His first name also attracted attention - a lot of <s>idiots</s> ignorant people connected it with the name of the Leonids meteor shower, probably because this is the first result that pops up in Google if you search for "Leonid". </p><p>In case you need reassurance, Leonid Elenin is a perfectly normal Russian name: </p> <ul><li>"Leonid" is a perfectly legit Russian name. Wikipedia has a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonid" class="extiw" title="wp:Leonid" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: Leonid">list of notable Leonids</span></a><sup><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup>.</li> <li>"Elenin" is a perfectly legit Russian family name, constructed from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://heraldry.sca.org/paul/zgrammar.html?ref=herseybedava.info">"-in" suffix</a> and the female name "(Y)Elena" or the less common male name "(Y)Elen".<sup id="cite_ref-24" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-24">[18]</a></sup> (Russian family names are typically based on a male name, but the suffix "-in" and the name of the mother was used when the name of the father was not known.)</li></ul> <h3><span id="Elenin's_existence"></span><span class="mw-headline" id="Elenin.27s_existence">Elenin's existence</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Elenin's existence">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>For a non-existent guy, Leonid Elenin blogs quite prolifically at the ISON-NM observatory website (initially in <s>broken</s> acceptable English, but later he got a volunteer to translate his posts). He also can be found posting in fluent Russian on several astronomy forums, such as <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.astronomy.ru/forum/">astronomy.ru</a><sup id="cite_ref-25" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-25">[19]</a></sup> and <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.astrogalaxy.ru/forum/phpBB2/">astrogalaxy.ru</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-26" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-26">[20]</a></sup> </p><p>As noted below, the Minor Planet Center circular about the discovery of the comet lists seven other collaborating observers.<sup id="cite_ref-mpec-2010X101_27-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-mpec-2010X101-27">[21]</a></sup> Are they fictional too? </p><p>After the wave of bullshit reached Russia and fellow Russians started to bother Elenin, he decided to put more effort in refuting it - first, with a interview for the RIA Novosty news agency,<sup id="cite_ref-28" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-28">[22]</a></sup> and then, a television interview for the NTV channel.<sup id="cite_ref-29" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-29">[23]</a></sup> </p><p>After he and a friend of his bagged another comet (P/2011 NO1), they were interviewed by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_One_(Russia)" class="extiw" title="wp:Channel One (Russia)" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: Channel One (Russia)">Channel One</span></a><sup><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup> TV channel.<sup id="cite_ref-30" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-30">[24]</a></sup> </p> <h3><span id="It's_a_COMET,_get_over_it!"></span><span class="mw-headline" id="It.27s_a_COMET.2C_get_over_it.21">It's a COMET, get over it!</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: It's a COMET, get over it!">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>To register a comet, the Minor Planet Center requires confirmation by multiple observations by several observers. The first Minor Planet Electronic Circular for Comet Elenin lists 8 different observatories/observers.<sup id="cite_ref-mpec-2010X101_27-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-mpec-2010X101-27">[21]</a></sup> Since then, the comet has been photographed by an increasing number of other amateurs - see the <a href="#Pictures">pictures</a> section below. </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Media_dis-interest">Media dis-interest</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Media dis-interest">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>A lot of the hysteria in the beginning was fuelled by the fact that the discovery was not covered by the mainstream media, at least in the USA. A lot of noise was made about the fact that a Google News search for "Comet Elenin" (<i>in English</i>) didn't return any results. This is true - up until June and later, the <i>large</i> US news media ignored the comet. The problem with the claim is that the comet was covered by the <i>specialized</i> mainstream media, such as <i>Sky and Telescope</i> magazine Observing Blog, which published a post about it in December 2010, two weeks after discovery. The comet was also covered by big mainstream media in Russia, with an interview with Leonid Elenin published in Gazeta.ru on 20 December 2010 (see <a href="#Media_coverage">media coverage</a> below), and in Europe. </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Buzz_about_the_Buzzroom">Buzz about the Buzzroom</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Buzz about the Buzzroom">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <table style="margin: auto; border-collapse:collapse; border-style:none; background-color:transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td><div style="padding:4px 50px;position:relative;"><span style="position:absolute;left:10px;top:-6px;z-index:1;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;color:#B2B7F2;font-size:36px">“</span><span style="position:absolute;right:10px;bottom:-20px;z-index:1;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;color:#B2B7F2;font-size:36px">”</span>One feature of this site is to grab videos posted on YouTube - automatically - and post them on a nasa.gov webpage and add a comment feature. … At one point I found a video that had been on nasa.gov for weeks that depicted a bloody lynching and featured a non-stop stream of profanity.</div> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="padding:4px 10px 8px;font-size:smaller;line-height:1.6em;text-align:right;"><cite style="font-style:normal;position:relative;z-index:2">—Keith Cowing<sup id="cite_ref-buzz-fixit_31-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-buzz-fixit-31">[25]</a></sup></cite> </td></tr></tbody></table> <p>A fun moment was the appearance of Comet Elenin conspiracy videos on the NASA Buzzroom - a poorly thought-out NASA "social network aggregator" that collected <a href="/wiki/Twitter" title="Twitter">Twitter</a> messages, Flickr images and <a href="/wiki/YouTube" title="YouTube">YouTube</a> videos.<sup id="cite_ref-32" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-32">[26]</a></sup> It was supposed to aggregate content about NASA and/or space exploration, but the software also picked a lot of junk, including music videos and videos about <a href="/wiki/Crop_circles" title="Crop circles">crop circles</a>. Which wouldn't be much of a problem if the site didn't lack a disclaimer that the content was not endorsed by NASA. Indeed, in the very beginning, it even lacked a description of what it did exactly. As a result, some <i>people</i> decided that if it is on a NASA .gov domain, this is some kind of "leak", admission or endorsement. (Despite the fact that the videos were clearly marked with the YouTube watermark and text saying "Uploaded to YouTube on ...") To be fair, the website was so minimalistic that is was not immediately obvious what was its purpose. Unless, of course, one had a <i>minimal</i> amount of web-savvy. </p><p>The fun ended when the space journalist Keith Cowing found out about the off-topic videos and wrote several angry posts at <i>NASA Watch</i>,<sup id="cite_ref-33" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-33">[27]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-buzz-fixit_31-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-buzz-fixit-31">[25]</a></sup> resulting first in the removal of the Comet Elenin videos from the site, and then in the shutdown of the Buzzroom itself<sup id="cite_ref-34" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-34">[28]</a></sup> (as of 22 July, its home page still says "We're in the process of making Buzzroom better for our users. (...) Please check back in the future."). </p><p>Of course, the disappearance of the Buzzroom was taken by some as a confirmation that some secret had been leaked. </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Alleged_alignments">Alleged alignments</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Alleged alignments">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>For now, see <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://cosmoquest.org/forum/showthread.php/115663-Comet-Elenin-Confirmed-to-be-causing-Earthquakes">this thread</a> at the <a href="/wiki/BAUT" class="mw-redirect" title="BAUT">BAUT</a> Forum for a discussion of the alleged alignments and their alleged connection to earthquakes. See also <a href="/wiki/Confirmation_bias" title="Confirmation bias">confirmation bias</a>, <a href="/wiki/Cherry_picking" title="Cherry picking">cherry picking</a>, <a href="/wiki/Correlation_does_not_equal_causation" class="mw-redirect" title="Correlation does not equal causation">correlation does not equal causation</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Texas_sharpshooter_fallacy" title="Texas sharpshooter fallacy">Texas sharpshooter fallacy</a>. </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="The_arXiv_papers">The arXiv papers</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: The arXiv papers">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>The <a href="/wiki/ArXiv" title="ArXiv">arXiv</a> is a large digital archive of <a href="/wiki/Peer_review" title="Peer review">un-reviewed</a> papers hosted by Cornell University. It is intended mostly as a place where scientists can upload the drafts of their papers to discuss them with other scientists. As a result, its submission criteria are very lax and a lot of <a href="/wiki/Fringe" title="Fringe">fringe</a> papers are uploaded though they have no chance of being published in a proper <a href="/wiki/Scientific_journal" title="Scientific journal">scientific journal</a>. </p><p>Someone decided to search for "Elenin" in the arXiv and found two draft papers.<sup id="cite_ref-35" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-35">[29]</a></sup> </p><p>One of them, the older one, is about a supernova and Leonid Elenin is listed as the second author (that is, not the main author).<sup id="cite_ref-36" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-36">[30]</a></sup> </p><p>The newer one is by one <a href="/wiki/Mensur_Omerbashich" title="Mensur Omerbashich">Mensur Omerbashich</a>, a Bosnian crank who tries to use Comet Elenin to support his idea that the Earth is apparently some kind of "hyperresonator" and planetary alignments (including alignments with Elenin) cause earthquakes.<sup id="cite_ref-37" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-37">[31]</a></sup> (His <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://sites.google.com/site/omerbashich/">website</a> is rather amusing.) As he claims that the influence is gravitational ("tidally induced") and caused by resonance, this contradicts directly the other attempts at linking the comet to the earthquakes - the "<a href="/wiki/Electric_comet" class="mw-redirect" title="Electric comet">electric comet</a>" claims and the claim that the comet is a <a href="/wiki/Cover-up" class="mw-redirect" title="Cover-up">cover-up</a> for a more massive object. For comments on Omerbashich's article, see the BAUT thread linked in <a href="#Alleged_alignments">alleged alignments</a> above and posts by amateur astronomer Ian Musgrave.<sup id="cite_ref-38" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-38">[32]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-39" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-39">[33]</a></sup> </p><p>Links to the search results and the Omerbashich article started circulating in the woosphere, with people misreading them in various ways. Some apparently don't know what arXiv is and think that these are papers that have been submitted to or published by Cornell.<sup id="cite_ref-40" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-40">[34]</a></sup> </p> <h3><span id="Other_bodies?"></span><span class="mw-headline" id="Other_bodies.3F">Other bodies?</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Other bodies?">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:302px;"><a href="/wiki/File:C2010x1_20101211.jpg" class="image"><img alt="" src="/w/images/thumb/f/ff/C2010x1_20101211.jpg/300px-C2010x1_20101211.jpg" decoding="async" width="300" height="285" class="thumbimage" srcset="/w/images/f/ff/C2010x1_20101211.jpg 1.5x" data-file-width="400" data-file-height="380" /></a> <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><a href="/wiki/File:C2010x1_20101211.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"></a></div>This was the first image of Comet Elenin available in <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2010X1/pictures.html">Seiichi Yoshida's image collection</a> (see <a href="#Pictures">pictures</a> below). It was created by stacking four 300-second exposures, creating quadruple images of the stars. © 2010 A. Sergeyev and <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://severastro.narod.ru/">A. Novichonok</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.astrin.uzsci.net/oldweb2/eng/maidanak/">Maidanak</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.astrin.uzsci.net/oldweb2/rus/maidanak/">Observatory</a>, Uzbekistan</div></div></div> <p>There have been several claims about other objects following or flying together with the comet. The alleged nature of the alleged objects varies from claimant to claimant, from "satellites of the <s>brown dwarf</s> comet" (see above) to "alien spacecraft". Such claims are eerily reminiscent of the claims about Comet Hale-Bopp and the <a href="/wiki/Heaven%27s_Gate" title="Heaven's Gate">Heaven's Gate</a> cult suicides in the 1990s. And as one surprisingly sane poster on a conspiracy forum put it, "Most of you have been in diapers in 1997 and you don't make the connection." </p><p>A lot of the claims seem to be caused by a misinterpretation of telescope images of the comet where it is surrounded by "strings" of white blobs. The strings are actually multiplied images of the surrounding stars, a side effect of the process used to create the comet image. The process is called "image stacking" or "frame stacking" and it consists of combining several separate images of a faint object with a computer to produce a brighter image. In the case of stacked images of comets or asteroids, this makes stars appear as streaks or strings of blobs, as the comet of asteroid is moving relative to the star field in the time between each image.<sup id="cite_ref-41" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-41">[35]</a></sup> </p><p>An example is a July 2011 <a href="/wiki/Sorcha_Faal" title="Sorcha Faal">Sorcha Faal</a> "report" that <s>used</s> abused the picture to the left, cropped to show only the comet and the two tracks of quadrupled stars.<sup id="cite_ref-faal-ufos_19-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-faal-ufos-19">[15]</a></sup> The text of the "report" stated that the eight blobs are <a href="/wiki/UFO" class="mw-redirect" title="UFO">UFOs</a>, belonging to an extraterrestrial civilization, recycling a previously circulating claim. </p> <h3><span id="JPL's_Small-Body_Database_Browser"></span><span class="mw-headline" id="JPL.27s_Small-Body_Database_Browser">JPL's Small-Body Database Browser</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: JPL's Small-Body Database Browser">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>After the woo started rolling, a lot of attention was focused on the entry of the comet in the JPL's Small-Body Database Browser, the only immediately available source of "official" information about the comet. Its imprecise orbital visualization applet was used to claim various alignments and to "determine" the date of the perihelion. The whole page was intensely scrutinized for clues about the nature of the comet, sometimes with hilarious results. </p> <h4><span class="mw-headline" id="Date_of_the_perihelion">Date of the perihelion</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Date of the perihelion">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h4> <div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:302px;"><a href="/wiki/File:Orbit_Viewer_-_Comet_Elenin_10_September.gif" class="image"><img alt="" src="/w/images/thumb/a/a2/Orbit_Viewer_-_Comet_Elenin_10_September.gif/300px-Orbit_Viewer_-_Comet_Elenin_10_September.gif" decoding="async" width="300" height="161" class="thumbimage" srcset="/w/images/thumb/a/a2/Orbit_Viewer_-_Comet_Elenin_10_September.gif/450px-Orbit_Viewer_-_Comet_Elenin_10_September.gif 1.5x, /w/images/a/a2/Orbit_Viewer_-_Comet_Elenin_10_September.gif 2x" data-file-width="585" data-file-height="314" /></a> <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><a href="/wiki/File:Orbit_Viewer_-_Comet_Elenin_10_September.gif" class="internal" title="Enlarge"></a></div>10 September 2011: "Sun Distance: 0.482 AU"</div></div></div> <div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:302px;"><a href="/wiki/File:Orbit_Viewer_-_Comet_Elenin_11_September.gif" class="image"><img alt="" src="/w/images/thumb/8/85/Orbit_Viewer_-_Comet_Elenin_11_September.gif/300px-Orbit_Viewer_-_Comet_Elenin_11_September.gif" decoding="async" width="300" height="161" class="thumbimage" srcset="/w/images/thumb/8/85/Orbit_Viewer_-_Comet_Elenin_11_September.gif/450px-Orbit_Viewer_-_Comet_Elenin_11_September.gif 1.5x, /w/images/8/85/Orbit_Viewer_-_Comet_Elenin_11_September.gif 2x" data-file-width="585" data-file-height="314" /></a> <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><a href="/wiki/File:Orbit_Viewer_-_Comet_Elenin_11_September.gif" class="internal" title="Enlarge"></a></div>11 September 2011: "Sun Distance: 0.483 AU"</div></div></div> <p>The last "official" date of the perihelion is 10 September. As the page itself says, the t<sub>p</sub> ("time of perihelion passage") is "2011-Sep-10.71849569" (as of 9 September; the "solution date" is "2011-Sep-02"). Nevertheless, some people claim that the perihelion is on the 11th of September (DUH-DUH-DUH-DUHNNN!), claiming that if the orbital visualization applet is set to 11 September, the "Sun Distance" is 0.482 AU (astronomical units), while if the applet is set to the 10th of September, the distance is 0.483 AU. (The current orbital solution on the page puts the perihelion distance (q) at 0.4824397626063921 AU.) </p><p>This is partially true - it is likely that you will get the same results - but the problem is that the applet doesn't show the digits after the third one, neither the hour (only the date). Try the following: </p> <ul><li>Open the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=C%2F2010+X1;orb=1;cov=0;log=0;cad=0#orb">orbit viewer for C/2010 X1</a> (requires Java; it may take some time to load)</li> <li>Set the date to 10 September. If the "Sun Distance" is 0.483, continue. If it's 0.482... point proven.</li> <li>Set the step from "1 Day" to "1 Hour"</li> <li>Start advancing the time by clicking on the ">|" button and keep an eye on the Sun distance and the date.</li> <li>After a few clicks, the distance should drop to <b>0.482 AU, but the date is still 10 September</b>.</li> <li>Keep clicking. After a few clicks, the date should change to 11 September.</li> <li>After some more clicks (but less than those on 10 Sept), the distance should change to <b>0.483 AU, but the date is 11 September</b>!</li> <li>The reason people are getting consistent results when they set the date is probably because the applet sets the hour to the same fixed value (midnight? noon?) every time the date is set. Thus, the distance drops below 0.483 some hours after the beginning of 10 September, and stays there at the beginning of 11 September, though farther away than in the point of the perihelion. (If you want, you can look at the source code of the applet - it's available at the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.astroarts.co.jp/products/orbitviewer/index.html">Orbit Viewer page at AstroArts</a>.)</li></ul> <p>The whole point is moot, though, for several reasons: </p> <ul><li>The applet displays only the "two-body solution" based on the current orbital elements that doesn't correct for gravitational perturbations. It's just a tool for a rough visualization of the orbit, not a precise simulation (by the way, if you seriously think that you can download and run a meticulously accurate orbital/gravitational simulation as a Java applet in around a minute, RationalWiki suggests doing a little research into computer technology first. Oh, and it might also be an idea to look up how to cross the road safely whilst you're at it. Just a thought.). The numbers on the page, on the other hand - t<sub>p</sub>, q and the others - are the results of calculations that take into account the gravitational forces that the other bodies in the Solar System put on the comet. (See the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/n-body_problem" class="extiw" title="wp:n-body problem" rel="nofollow">n-body problem</a>.)</li> <li>The date of the perihelion is irrelevant anyway. The Universe does not revolve around the United States. <a href="/wiki/American_exceptionalism" title="American exceptionalism">Honestly.</a></li></ul> <h4><span class="mw-headline" id="Otto_Matic">Otto Matic</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: Otto Matic">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h4> <p>"Otto Matic" is a pun on the word "automatic" - it is pronounced in approximately the same way, something that may not be immediately obvious to people for whom English is not the first language. (You can check the pronunciation and hear it <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/automatic">here</a>.) It is a rather old pun and examples of it date at least back to the 1970s,<sup id="cite_ref-42" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-42">[36]</a></sup> including one in <i>Playboy</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-43" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-43">[37]</a></sup> </p><p>"Otto Mattic" is also the name given in the "Producer" field in Comet Elenin's entry in JPL's Small-Body Database Browser. (According to the pop-up help, this field is the "name of person (or institution) who computed the orbit".) Some perplexed conspiracy theorist Googled the name and found out that all results point to a <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.pangeasoft.net/otto/index.html">video game</a> developed by Pangea Software.<sup id="cite_ref-faal-ufos_19-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-faal-ufos-19">[15]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-otto-glp_44-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-otto-glp-44">[38]</a></sup> Apparently, the game features a robot called Otto Matic Proto, who "travels to Planet Xallamarphamandos (Planet X for short)".<sup id="cite_ref-otto-glp_44-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-otto-glp-44">[38]</a></sup> As a result, some... <i>people</i> decided that "NASA must completely think that we're idiots... Or SEVERELY messing with our heads in a very evil way!"<sup id="cite_ref-45" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-45">[39]</a></sup> </p><p>There are several problems with this line of reasoning. The name probably indicates that the orbital parameters were imported or calculated by some kind of automatic process. The name is not specific to Comet Elenin, as it is used in the entries of many other objects, for example <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2008+OO">near-Earth asteroid 2008 OO</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=21+Lutetia">main belt asteroid (21) Lutetia</a> and comet <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2011+NO1">P/2011 NO<sub>1</sub></a>, Leonid Elenin's second discovered comet. It has been used in the SBDB at least since 2008 for asteroid <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2007+TU24">2007 TU<sub>24</sub></a>.<sup id="cite_ref-46" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-46">[40]</a></sup> </p><p>JPL's programmers are not the only ones with a taste for "automatic" jokes. Many of the Minor Planet Center's Minor Planet Electronic Circulars (MPECs) are signed by "A. U. Tomatic", for example <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K11/K11P07.html">MPEC 2011-P07</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K10/K10O34.html">MPEC 2010-O34</a> and <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K07/K07N12.html">MPEC 2007-N12</a>. </p> <h3><span id="Game_Over,_Man!,_Game_Over!"></span><span class="mw-headline" id="Game_Over.2C_Man.21.2C_Game_Over.21">Game Over, Man!, Game Over!</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: Game Over, Man!, Game Over!">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>In 19 August 2011 when it was very close to the Sun, Elenin was hit by a coronal mass ejection<sup id="cite_ref-47" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-47">[41]</a></sup> and shortly after began disintegrating<sup id="cite_ref-48" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-48">[42]</a></sup>, along with the credibility of cranks and woo lovers <i>again</i>. By October 2011, it was just a cloud of dust<sup id="cite_ref-49" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-49">[43]</a></sup>. </p> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Pictures">Pictures</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: Pictures">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:352px;"><a href="/wiki/File:Comet_Elenin_NASA_2011.jpg" class="image"><img alt="" src="/w/images/thumb/b/b5/Comet_Elenin_NASA_2011.jpg/350px-Comet_Elenin_NASA_2011.jpg" decoding="async" width="350" height="350" class="thumbimage" srcset="/w/images/b/b5/Comet_Elenin_NASA_2011.jpg 1.5x" data-file-width="500" data-file-height="500" /></a> <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><a href="/wiki/File:Comet_Elenin_NASA_2011.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"></a></div>In August 2011, NASA posted the first official photograph of comet Elenin approaching from space.<sup id="cite_ref-50" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-50">[44]</a></sup></div></div></div> <p>There were a lot of false claims that amateur astronomers could not find the comet and that all pictures were provided only by Elenin. These claims are easily dispelled. </p> <ul><li>The Comet Elenin page on Seiichi Yoshida's comet website collects images of the comet by amateur astronomers. It was one of the first picture sources found when the conspiracy theories started to circulate, which prompted some of the conspiracy theorists to dismiss it as a part of the conspiracy.<sup id="cite_ref-51" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-51">[45]</a></sup></li></ul> <ul><li>Various amateur astronomers posted their comet images to the now defunct Comet Images Yahoo Group.<sup id="cite_ref-52" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-52">[46]</a></sup></li></ul> <ul><li>Southern Comets, Michael Mattiazzo's page, has some pictures of Comet Elenin from June and July 2011, made with an 11-inch Celestron 11GPS.<sup id="cite_ref-53" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-53">[47]</a></sup></li></ul> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Non-pictures">Non-pictures</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: Non-pictures">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>A photo showing blue stars and a large blue comet with distinctive tail labelled "COMET ELENIN" with blocky white letters is <b>not a picture of Comet Elenin</b>, but unfortunately it is one of the top results for "Comet Elenin" in Google Images and it was used in the Discover News article.<sup id="cite_ref-discovery_17-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-discovery-17">[13]</a></sup> It is actually a photo of the comet 81P/Wild that was used as an illustration in an early article about Elenin.<sup id="cite_ref-54" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-54">[48]</a></sup> Apparently the author thought that an article about a comet should contain an image of a comet even if it's not the same one. The original version, like most astronomical images, was "black-and-white" (grayscale). The blue-colored version with the incorrect label seems to originate from a January post in the blog of a conspiracy theorist who thought that it could hit Earth.<sup id="cite_ref-55" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-55">[49]</a></sup> </p> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="External_links">External links</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit&section=17" title="Edit section: External links">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <ul><li>See the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2010_X1_(Elenin)" class="extiw" title="wp:C/2010 X1 (Elenin)" rel="nofollow">Comet Elenin</a>.</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=C%2F2010%20X1">C/2010 X1 (Elenin) data</a> at JPL's Small Body Database browser, including a Java-based interactive <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=C%2F2010%20X1;orb=1">orbit diagram</a></li> <li>The Minor Planet Center (their data often is somewhat fresher than the JPL's): <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://scully.cfa.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/returnprepeph.cgi?d=c&o=CK10X010">Orbital elements and ephemeris for C/2010 X1 (Elenin)</a>, inlcuding a KML file for Google Sky</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=C%2F2010+X1&commit=Show">Database page for C/2010 X1</a>, including orbit solutions and downloadable list of the observations used to calculate the orbit</li></ul></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iauc/09100/09189.html">International Astronomical Union Circular 9189: C/2010 X1; P/2010 V1</a>, 17 December 2010, announcing the discovery of the comet</li></ul> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Leonid_Elenin">Leonid Elenin</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit&section=18" title="Edit section: Leonid Elenin">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>Sites by or about him: </p> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://spaceobs.org">ISON-NM observatory site</a>, including a blog written by Leonid Elenin himself (in English and Russian; the Russian part used to be more informative before he got a volunteer to translate his posts into English)</li></ul> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Media_coverage">Media coverage</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit&section=19" title="Edit section: Media coverage">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.gazeta.ru/science/2010/12/20_a_3471201.shtml">«Кометы могут представлять серьезную угрозу» Интервью с первым российским астрономом, открывшим комету за последние 20 лет</a>, Газета.Ru (interview with Leonid Elenin in Russian, passable Google Translate machine translation <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gazeta.ru%2Fscience%2F2010%2F12%2F20_a_3471201.shtml">here</a>), 20 December 2010</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/observingblog/112431829.html">Bright Prospects for Comet Elenin?</a>, <i>Sky & Telescope</i> magazine Observing Blog, 24 December 2010</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://astroblogger.blogspot.com/2011/03/from-super-moons-to-comet-elenin-we.html">From Super Moons to Comet Elenin – we will NOT get killer earthquakes from the sky</a>, Astroblog, 16 March 2011 (<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://astroblogger.blogspot.com/2011/03/comet-2010-x1-elenin-its-just-lump-of.html">previous coverage</a> in the same blog; see also Supermoon)</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/119704774.html">So-So Prospects for Comet Elenin</a>, <i>Sky & Telescope</i> magazine Observing Blog, 12 April 2011</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch/newsfeatures.cfm?release=2011-135">Comet Elenin: Preview of a Coming Attraction</a>, <a href="/wiki/NASA" title="NASA">NASA</a>/JPL's <i>Asteroid Watch</i> blog, 4 May 2011</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://astroblogger.blogspot.com/2011/05/comet-2010-x1-elenin-earthquakes.html">Comet 2010 X1 Elenin, Earthquakes, Astronomical Alignments and Mensur Omerbashich</a>, Astroblog, 27 May 2011</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://astroblogger.blogspot.com/2011/06/comet-elenin-is-not-satellite-of-brown.html">Comet Elenin is NOT a satellite of a Brown Dwarf Star</a>, Astroblog, 3 June 2011</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.space.com/12194-comet-elenin-planet-nibiru-doomsday-2012.html">Believers In Mysterious Planet Nibiru Await Earth's End</a>, <i>Space.com</i>, 7 July 2011. Later republished as <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/07/24/believers-in-mysterious-planet-nibiru-comet-elenin-await-earths-end/">Believers in Mysterious Planet Nibiru, Comet Elenin Await Earth's End</a> at the <a href="/wiki/Fox_News" title="Fox News">Fox News</a> website on 24 July.</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://astroblogger.blogspot.com/2011/07/revisiting-comet-2010-x1-elenin.html">Revisiting Comet 2010 X1 Elenin, Earthquakes, Astronomical Alignments and Mensur Omerbashich</a>, Astroblog, 29 July 2011</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-255">Comet Elenin Poses No Threat to Earth</a>, NASA/JPL's News and Features, 16 August 2011</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/comet_elenin.html">NASA Answers Your Questions About Comet Elenin</a>, short "feature" at the Solar System section of the main NASA website, 3 August 2011</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://podcast.sjrdesign.net/shownotes_004.php">Exposing Pseudoastronomy Podcast #4 - Comet Elenin Special</a>, Stuart Robbins, 10 September 2011</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.space.com/13045-comet-elenin-skywatching-curiosity-nasa.html">The Curious Case of Comet Elenin: A Weird Skywatching Tale</a>, Geoff Gaherty, Space.com, 22 September 2011</li></ul> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Nutters">Nutters</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit&section=20" title="Edit section: Nutters">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>The anti-science self-promoter <a href="/wiki/Richard_Hoagland" title="Richard Hoagland">Richard Hoagland</a> spoke at a woo conference on 24 September 2011 for 3h 20m on the subject of Elenin. He then spoke for another 2h on <a href="/wiki/Coast_to_Coast_AM" title="Coast to Coast AM">Coast to Coast AM</a>, 16 October. On both occasions, using pseudo-statistical data that was breathtakingly wrong,<sup id="cite_ref-56" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-56">[note 7]</a></sup> he "calculated" that the odds of Elenin being a natural object were 45,000,000,000 against. </p><p>A few very gullible people believed this; however, Hoagland's very obvious failures over both Elenin and the asteroid YU<sub>55</sub> lost him a great many fans. </p><p>Just enter "Comet Elenin" in the search engine of your choice. A taste of the crazy: </p> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.webcitation.org/5xb2FMN9N">Comet Elenen: The Story So Far…</a> (archived copy)</li> <li>TerralO3 is one of the major fear-mongers on YouTube and elsewhere (see this <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://sites.google.com/site/eledwarfstar/"><s>website</s> link dump</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.webcitation.org/5zqd24d6c">archived by WebCite</a>)</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.calleman.com/content/articles/Comets_Honda_Elenin.htm">Comets Honda and Elenin fulfill Mayan, Hopi and Christian Prophesies as the Mayan calendar approaches its end on October 28, 2011</a>, Carl Johan Calleman, 23 June 2011 (<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.webcitation.org/60GTYDtnh">Archived by WebCite®</a>)</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://eleninandbankers.webs.com/">Elenin and Bankers</a>, an amusing single-page site connecting Comet Elenin with an international banker conspiracy (<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.webcitation.org/60Le5Vxja">Archived by WebCite®</a>)</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=326893">Comet races toward Earth at peak of God's holy days: Pastor asking: 'Will there be some type of magnetic pull? Will the poles shift?'</a>, Joe Kovacs, <a href="/wiki/World_Net_Daily" class="mw-redirect" title="World Net Daily">World Net Daily</a>, 31 July 2011 (yes, that WND - they are covering the "fulfils Biblical prophecy" angle)</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/comet_elenin.html">NASA Answers Your Questions About Comet Elenin</a></li></ul> <p>Places to mine for more examples: </p> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/searchresults.php?cx=010913664321846374563%3Afzhl_cfnikq&cof=FORID%3A9&q=%22Elenin%22+&sa=Search#1031">List of all threads</a> on <a href="/wiki/Above_Top_Secret" title="Above Top Secret">Above Top Secret</a> mentioning "Elenin" (Google custom search)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Godlike_Productions" title="Godlike Productions">Godlike Productions</a> helpfully has created an automatically-generated <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.godlikeproductions.com/topics/Science/Comet_Elenin">"topic" about Comet Elenin</a> containing all threads with certain keywords in their title</li></ul> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Notes">Notes</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit&section=21" title="Edit section: Notes">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <div class="references-small" style="font-size:90%;"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-2">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">"Amateur astronomer" means simply that the person is not professionally employed in, formally trained in, and/or personally dedicated to astronomy as a career. It does not imply lack of astronomical knowledge or skill. (Some very fine science has been done, and notable scientific advance made, by amateurs.) Mr. Elenin is employed by the Institute for Applied Mathemathics of the Russian Academy of Science, but his work there is not directly connected to astronomy; he himself describes himself as "астроном-любитель" in the Gazeta.ru interview. Unfortunately, the Leonid meteor shower is not named after him.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-3">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">A lot of people find it strange that a Russian used (uses) a telescope in New Mexico. There's also the claim that he couldn't be able to observe the comet from there on the date of the discovery. Or the claim that no such observatory exists.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-4">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Their website is <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://lfvn.astronomer.ru/">here</a>, the main page is in Russian, but there's also an English version. The network used to be called PulKON, "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulkovo_Observatory" class="extiw" title="wp:Pulkovo Observatory" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: Pulkovo Observatory">Pulkovo</span></a><sup><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup> Cooperation of Optical Observers" (in Russian: ПулКОН, "Пулковской кооперации оптических наблюдателей"). The up-to-date list of optical observatories is <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://lfvn.astronomer.ru/main/optic.htm">here</a> and includes a link to the ISON-NM observatory website (under "Нью-Мексико", i.e. New Mexico).</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-8">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Normally, reflector telescopes have another mirror in the primary focus that diverts the image towards an eyepiece. A primary focus camera means that a telescope is dedicated exclusively to astrophotography.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-21"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-21">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">If you have lived in a cave in the 1990s or were not old enough at the time, the movie's Wikipedia page is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Impact_(film)" class="extiw" title="wp:Deep Impact (film)" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: Deep_Impact_%28film%29">here</span></a><sup><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup> and its listing in IMDB is <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120647/">here</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-22"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-22">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">To make matters worse, the female lead in <i>Deep Impact</i> was played by Téa <i>Leoni</i>! <i>Leoni</i>, <i>Leoni</i>d! Get it? And <i>Téa</i> is almost like <i>tea</i>, as in <i>Tea Party</i>, which will still have members in the U.S. Congress when the comet comes to kill us! <i><b>OMG! It must be more than a coincidence! Start building your underground bunkers before it's too late!</b></i></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-56"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-56">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">For example, he stated that the odds of a cometary orbit having a certain inclination are "1 in (365 divided by the inclination in degrees)". This means that the odds of an orbit of zero incination are... er.... oh, never mind.</span> </li> </ol></div></div> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="References">References</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit&section=22" title="Edit section: References">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <div class="references-small" style="-moz-column-count:2; -webkit-column-count:2; column-count:2; font-size:80%;"> <div class="mw-references-wrap mw-references-columns"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-1">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">See the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional_designation_in_astronomy#Comets" class="extiw" title="wp:Provisional designation in astronomy" rel="nofollow">Provisional designation in astronomy § Comets</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-5">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nmskies.com/">New Mexico Skies</a> Remote observatories.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-6">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.astroworks.com/">Centurion-18</a> telescope, astroworks.com.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-7">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.is/sxyWd">FLI ML09000-65</a> astronomical imaging camera. Archived from the original at fli-cam.com.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-ison-first-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-ison-first_9-0">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://lfvn.astronomer.ru/news/2010/08/0001/index.htm">First Russian Internet telescope in the Western hemisphere</a> (in Russian), 4 August 2010. Note that one of the authors of the page is Leonid Elenin himself.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-10">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120810182328/http://laura-knight-jadczyk.blogspot.com/2011/01/comet-elenin-is-coming.html">Comet Elenin is Coming! </a>, <a href="/wiki/Laura_Knight-Jadczyk" title="Laura Knight-Jadczyk">Laura Knight-Jadczyk</a>, 12 January 2011</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-11">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95zMdTvoqcQ">MARCH 11-23 EVENT?! Signs and Evidence</a>, 9Nania, <a href="/wiki/YouTube" title="YouTube">YouTube</a>, 8 March 2011. See <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://cosmoquest.org/forum/showthread.php/113532-Comet-Elenin-Cause-Of-Earthquakes">this thread</a> at the BAUT forum for a discussion of the claims.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-12">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLIL23oz5qg">"NOT ELENIN COMET, BUT A SUPERMASSIVE BLACK CARBON STAR" - HD SWEET!</a>, debieblue, <a href="/wiki/YouTube" title="YouTube">YouTube</a>, 15 July 2011. You gotta love the all-caps video description.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-13"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-13">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://lamarzulli.wordpress.com/2011/07/14/acceleration-radio-deborah-sontag-signs-in-the-heavens/">Acceleration Radio – Deborah Sontag – Signs in the HEAVENS!</a> and <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://lamarzulli.wordpress.com/2011/07/14/deborah-sontag-mp3-and-recap-of-show-new-feature/">Deborah Sontag – MP3 and RECAP of show!</a>, L.A. Marzulli's Blog, 14 July 2011. And <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_star_designation" class="extiw" title="wp:Variable star designation" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: Variable_star_designation"><i>Leonis</i> is the genitive form of <i>Leo</i> and "translates from Latin" as "of Lion"</span></a><sup><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup>, you ignorant gasbag.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-14"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-14">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">See the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CW_Leonis" class="extiw" title="wp:CW Leonis" rel="nofollow">CW Leonis</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-15"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-15">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://spaceobs.org/ru/2011/05/25/perhaps-the-closest-approach-of-comet-elenin-to-a-main-belt-asteroid/#comment-212915614">A particularly insane comment</a> at Leonid Elenin's blog, 27 May 2011</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-16"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-16">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">All questions about Comet Elenin at <i>Ask an Astrobiologist</i> so far, as as a sample of the crazy: <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/question/?id=11764">[1]</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/question/?id=14223">[2]</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/question/?id=14416">[3]</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/question/?id=14637">[4]</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/question/?id=14828">[5]</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-discovery-17"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">↑ <sup><a href="#cite_ref-discovery_17-0">13.0</a></sup> <sup><a href="#cite_ref-discovery_17-1">13.1</a></sup></span> <span class="reference-text"> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://news.discovery.com/space/will-earthbound-comet-fulfill-2012-prophecy.html">Will Earthbound Comet Fulfill 2012 Prophecy?</a>, Discovery News, 22 March 2011 ("Oh, no, sir, we are not using a sensationalistic headline, we are just reporting the controversy, honest!")</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-18"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-18">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1453.htm">Russian Warning Issued Over “Controlled” Comet Headed Towards Earth</a>, WhatDoesItMean.com, 1 March 2011 (<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.whatdoesitmean.com%2Findex1453.htm&date=2011-03-31">Archived by WebCite®</a>)</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-faal-ufos-19"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">↑ <sup><a href="#cite_ref-faal-ufos_19-0">15.0</a></sup> <sup><a href="#cite_ref-faal-ufos_19-1">15.1</a></sup> <sup><a href="#cite_ref-faal-ufos_19-2">15.2</a></sup></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1499.htm">Top US Space Expert Issues Catastrophic Warning On Comet Elenin</a>, Sorcha Faal, WhatDoesItMean.com (and probably mirrored elsewhere), 7 July 2011 (<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.webcitation.org/60N25M2dG">archived by WebCite</a>)</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-20"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-20">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.eutimes.net/2011/03/russian-warning-issued-over-controlled-comet-headed-towards-earth/">Russian Warning Issued Over “Controlled” Comet Headed Towards Earth</a> (Mar 1<sup>st</sup>, 2011) <i>The European Union Times</i>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-wikipedia-anon-23"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">↑ <sup><a href="#cite_ref-wikipedia-anon_23-0">17.0</a></sup> <sup><a href="#cite_ref-wikipedia-anon_23-1">17.1</a></sup></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=C%2F2010_X1&action=historysubmit&diff=420561210&oldid=420472793">Some anonymous (and quickly reverted) contribution to the Wikipedia article</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-24"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-24">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Not a terribly common name for a male, but see <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/personal_names/14646/%D0%95%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD">this</a> and <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.takzovut.ru/meaning_boynames_Elen.html">this</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-25"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-25">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">His profile is <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.astronomy.ru/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=16422">here</a>, but only members of the forum can see it. Example threads: <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.astronomy.ru/forum/index.php/topic,55741.80.html#subject_966379">this one from 2009</a> about Russians "recovering" lost comets mentions congratulates him on recovering the comet P/2002 JN16 (LINEAR).</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-26"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-26">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Again, viewing <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.astrogalaxy.ru/forum/phpBB2/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=53">his profile</a> page requires registration. Apparently, he used to be a moderator there.<a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.astrogalaxy.ru/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=3470">[6]</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-mpec-2010X101-27"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">↑ <sup><a href="#cite_ref-mpec-2010X101_27-0">21.0</a></sup> <sup><a href="#cite_ref-mpec-2010X101_27-1">21.1</a></sup></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.org/mpec/K10/K10XA1.html">MPEC 2010-X101: COMET C/2010 X1 (ELENIN)</a>, the Minor Planet Center, 12 December 2010</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-28"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-28">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://rian.ru/science/20110507/371945235.html">Комета Еленина породила массовую истерию в интернете</a>, RIA Novosti, 7 May 2011; English translations were distributed by various other sites, such as <a href="/wiki/Russia_Today" class="mw-redirect" title="Russia Today">Russia Today</a>: <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://rt.com/news/comet-astronomer-first-elenin/">Online craze over looming “comet doomsday”</a>, 12 May 2011</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-29"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-29">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.ntv.ru/novosti/228648/">К Земле приближается загадочная комета</a> (video and text, in Russian), NTV.ru, 11 May 2011 (The title: "An enigmatic comet is approaching the Earth". Bloody sensation-mongers...)</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-30"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-30">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.1tv.ru/news/techno/181118">Удача космического масштаба улыбнулась российским ученым</a> (text and video in Russian), <i>Первый канал</i>, 22 July 2011</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-buzz-fixit-31"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">↑ <sup><a href="#cite_ref-buzz-fixit_31-0">25.0</a></sup> <sup><a href="#cite_ref-buzz-fixit_31-1">25.1</a></sup></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://nasawatch.com/archives/2011/03/nasa-buzzroom-i.html">NASA Buzzroom Is Broken. Please Fix It. (Updated with SOMD Response)</a>, <i>NASA Watch</i>, 4 March 2011</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-32"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-32">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://nasawatch.com/archives/2011/08/nasa-buzzroom-i-1.html">NASA Buzzroom is Back and it is Awful</a> by Keith Cowing (August 16, 2011 9:25 PM) <i>NASA Watch</i>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-33"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-33">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://nasawatch.com/archives/2011/03/genuine-pseudos.html">Pseudoscience and Profane Videos Featured Online at NASA.gov</a>, <i>NASA Watch</i>, 3 March 2011</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-34"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-34">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://nasawatch.com/archives/2011/03/nasa-finally-pu.html">NASA Finally Pulls Buzzroom Offline for an Overhaul</a>, <i>NASA Watch</i>, 9 March 2011</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-35"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-35">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150415084426/http://arxiv.org/find/all/1/all:+elenin/0/1/0/all/0/1">search on 'all:elenin'</a> <i>arXiv.org</i> (archived from April 15, 2015).</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-36"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-36">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1003.2558">SN 2008fv: the third type Ia supernova in NGC 3147</a>, D. Yu. Tsvetkov, L. Elenin</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-37"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-37">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1104.2036">Astronomical alignments as the cause of ~M6+ seismicity</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-38"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-38">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20110903141402/http://astroblogger.blogspot.com/2011/05/comet-2010-x1-elenin-earthquakes.html">Comet 2010 X1 Elenin, Earthquakes, Astronomical Alignments and Mensur Omerbashich</a>. Archived from the original at astroblogger.blogspot.com, 27 May 2011.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-39"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-39">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://astroblogger.blogspot.com/2011/07/revisiting-comet-2010-x1-elenin.html">Revisiting Comet 2010 X1 Elenin, Earthquakes, Astronomical Alignments and Mensur Omerbashich</a>. Archived from the original at astroblogger.blogspot.com, 30 July 2011.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-40"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-40">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FmeLxez3dQ">Comet Elenin - Leonid Elenin Answers Questions Regarding EQ's (3rd May)</a>, Thyalwaysseek, video at YouTube</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-41"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-41">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.ewellobservatory.com/ccd/comet.cfm">Capturing a Comet</a>, Richard A. Bennion, <i>Ewell Observatory</i>. The article has several examples of comet images containing strings of multiplied stars.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-42"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-42">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061256/">George of the Jungle</a> (entry at IMDB), a 1967–1970 cartoon series featuring a villain called Baron Otto Matic.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-43"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-43">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://members.i.playboy.com/Playboy-Magazine/Apr-1970-Issue/150">Dr. Otto Matic, I Presume</a>, Craig Vetter, <i>Playboy</i>, April 1970</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-otto-glp-44"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">↑ <sup><a href="#cite_ref-otto-glp_44-0">38.0</a></sup> <sup><a href="#cite_ref-otto-glp_44-1">38.1</a></sup></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message1555608/pg1">WTF is "producer - Otto Matic" and WTF a video game has to do with the COMET?!?</a>, thread at <a href="/wiki/Godlike_Productions" title="Godlike Productions">Godlike Productions</a>, started 8 July 2011</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-45"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-45">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://cosmoquest.org/forum/showthread.php/117890-Comet-Elenin-Is-Of-Intelligent-Design">Comet Elenin Is Of Intelligent Design</a>, thread at the <a href="/wiki/Bad_Astronomy_and_Universe_Today_Forum" class="mw-redirect" title="Bad Astronomy and Universe Today Forum">Bad Astronomy and Universe Today Forum</a>, started on 08 July 2011</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-46"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-46">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://cosmoquest.org/forum/showthread.php/68964-Asteroid-TU24-close?p=1151725#post1151725">A post</a> mentions "Otto Matic" in <i>Asteroid TU24 close?</i>, thread at the <a href="/wiki/Bad_Astronomy_and_Universe_Today_Forum" class="mw-redirect" title="Bad Astronomy and Universe Today Forum">Bad Astronomy and Universe Today Forum</a>, in January 2008</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-47"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-47">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://spaceobs.org/en/2011/08/24/interaction-between-comet-elenin-and-coronal-mass-ejection-from-the-sun/">Interaction between Comet Elenin and CME from the Sun</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-48"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-48">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://astrobob.areavoices.com/2011/08/28/comet-elenin-tired-of-too-much-pr/">Comet elenin tired of too much PR</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-49"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-49">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.global-rent-a-scope.com/gras-news/2011/10/24/a-dust-cloud-once-called-comet-elenin.html">And so the story ends</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-50"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-50">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/item.php?id=selects&iid=154">Comet Elenin as seen by HI1-B on Aug. 6, 2011.</a> stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov, 19 March 2018.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-51"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-51">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2010X1/2010X1.html">C/2010 X1 (Elenin)</a> (Updated on January 7, 2012) <i>Seiichi Yoshida's Home Page</i>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-52"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-52">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.is/X1dUQ">Search results for "C/2010 X1"</a> on Yahoo Groups Comet-Images]. Archived from the original at tech.groups.yahoo.com on 7 July 2013.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-53"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-53">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://members.westnet.com.au/mmatti/webpage/2010X1_Elenin.htm">Comet Elenin</a> at the Southern Comets page, 2011.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-54"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-54">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.suite101.com/content/comet-elenin-observe-a-jewel-of-the-night-skies-septembers-2011-a324612">Comet Elenin, Observe a Jewel of the Night Skies September 2011</a>, Suite101, 25 December 2010. The full photo is attached to the article: <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.suite101.com/view_image_articles.cfm/2683306">Comet 81P/Wild</a> and can be seen also on <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.cometary.net/tzec_maun_images">the Tzec Maun page of the Red Barn Observatory's website</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-55"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-55">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://reinep.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/comet-elenin-could-hit-earth/">Comet Elenin Could Hit Earth!</a>, Ray Alex Website, 18 January 2011</span> </li> </ol></div></div>    </div></div><div class="printfooter">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&oldid=2688235">https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&oldid=2688235</a>"</div> <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" data-mw="interface"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="/wiki/Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories">Categories</a>: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Silver-level_articles" title="Category:Silver-level articles">Silver-level articles</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Conspiracy_theories" title="Category:Conspiracy theories">Conspiracy theories</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Astronomy" title="Category:Astronomy">Astronomy</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Pseudoastronomy" title="Category:Pseudoastronomy">Pseudoastronomy</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:End_of_the_world" title="Category:End of the world">End of the world</a></li></ul></div><div id="mw-hidden-catlinks" class="mw-hidden-catlinks mw-hidden-cats-hidden">Hidden categories: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Pages_using_DynamicPageList_parser_function" title="Category:Pages using DynamicPageList parser function">Pages using DynamicPageList parser function</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_needing_updates" title="Category:Articles needing updates">Articles needing updates</a></li></ul></div></div> </div> </div> <div id="mw-navigation"> <h2>Navigation menu</h2> <div id="mw-head">  <nav id="p-personal" class="vector-menu" aria-labelledby="p-personal-label" role="navigation" > <h3 id="p-personal-label"> <span>Personal tools</span> </h3>  <div class="body vector-menu-content">  <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"><li id="pt-anonuserpage">Not logged in</li><li id="pt-anontalk"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyTalk" title="Discussion about edits from this IP address [n]" accesskey="n">Talk</a></li><li id="pt-anoncontribs"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyContributions" title="A list of edits made from this IP address [y]" accesskey="y">Contributions</a></li><li id="pt-createaccount"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=Comet+Elenin" title="You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory">Create account</a></li><li id="pt-login"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Comet+Elenin" title="You are encouraged to log in; however, it is not mandatory [o]" accesskey="o">Log in</a></li></ul> </div> </nav> <div id="left-navigation">  <nav id="p-namespaces" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs vectorTabs" aria-labelledby="p-namespaces-label" role="navigation" > <h3 id="p-namespaces-label"> <span>Namespaces</span> </h3>  <div class="body vector-menu-content">  <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"><li id="ca-nstab-main" class="selected"><a href="/wiki/Comet_Elenin" title="View the content page [c]" accesskey="c">Page</a></li><li id="ca-talk"><a href="/wiki/Talk:Comet_Elenin" rel="discussion" title="Discussion about the content page [t]" accesskey="t">Talk</a></li></ul> </div> </nav>  <nav id="p-variants" class="vector-menu-empty emptyPortlet vector-menu vector-menu-dropdown vectorMenu" aria-labelledby="p-variants-label" role="navigation" > <input type="checkbox" class="vector-menu-checkbox vectorMenuCheckbox" aria-labelledby="p-variants-label" /> <h3 id="p-variants-label"> <span>Variants</span> </h3>  <div class="body vector-menu-content">  <ul class="menu vector-menu-content-list"></ul> </div> </nav> </div> <div id="right-navigation">  <nav id="p-views" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs vectorTabs" aria-labelledby="p-views-label" role="navigation" > <h3 id="p-views-label"> <span>Views</span> </h3>  <div class="body vector-menu-content">  <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"><li id="ca-view" class="collapsible selected"><a href="/wiki/Comet_Elenin">Read</a></li><li id="ca-edit" class="collapsible"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e">Edit</a></li><li id="ca-history" class="collapsible"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=history" title="Past revisions of this page [h]" accesskey="h">Fossil record</a></li></ul> </div> </nav>  <nav id="p-cactions" class="vector-menu-empty emptyPortlet vector-menu vector-menu-dropdown vectorMenu" aria-labelledby="p-cactions-label" role="navigation" > <input type="checkbox" class="vector-menu-checkbox vectorMenuCheckbox" aria-labelledby="p-cactions-label" /> <h3 id="p-cactions-label"> <span>More</span> </h3>  <div class="body vector-menu-content">  <ul class="menu vector-menu-content-list"></ul> </div> </nav> <div id="p-search" role="search"> <h3 > <label for="searchInput">Search</label> </h3> <form action="/w/index.php" id="searchform"> <div id="simpleSearch"> <input type="search" name="search" placeholder="Search RationalWiki" title="Search RationalWiki [f]" accesskey="f" id="searchInput"/> <input type="hidden" name="title" value="Special:Search"> <input type="submit" name="fulltext" value="Search" title="Search the pages for this text" id="mw-searchButton" class="searchButton mw-fallbackSearchButton"/> <input type="submit" name="go" value="Go" title="Go to a page with this exact name if it exists" id="searchButton" class="searchButton"/> </div> </form> </div> </div> </div> <div id="mw-panel"> <div id="p-logo" role="banner"> <a title="Visit the main page" class="mw-wiki-logo" href="/wiki/Main_Page"></a> </div>  <nav id="p-navigation" class="vector-menu vector-menu-portal portal portal-first" aria-labelledby="p-navigation-label" role="navigation" > <h3 id="p-navigation-label"> <span>Navigation</span> </h3>  <div class="body vector-menu-content">  <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"><li id="n-mainpage-description"><a href="/wiki/Main_Page" title="Visit the main page [z]" accesskey="z">Main page</a></li><li id="n-recentchanges"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChanges" title="A list of recent changes in the wiki [r]" accesskey="r">Recent changes</a></li><li id="n-randompage"><a href="/wiki/Special:Random" title="Load a random mainspace article [x]" accesskey="x">Random page</a></li><li id="n-New-pages"><a href="/wiki/Special:NewPages">New pages</a></li><li id="n-All-logs"><a href="/wiki/Special:Log">All logs</a></li><li id="n-help"><a href="/wiki/Help:Contents" title="RTFM">Help</a></li></ul> </div> </nav>  <nav id="p-support" class="vector-menu vector-menu-portal portal" aria-labelledby="p-support-label" role="navigation" > <h3 id="p-support-label"> <span>Support</span> </h3>  <div class="body vector-menu-content">  <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"><li id="n-Donate"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Site_support">Donate</a></li></ul> </div> </nav>  <nav id="p-community" class="vector-menu vector-menu-portal portal" aria-labelledby="p-community-label" role="navigation" > <h3 id="p-community-label"> <span>Community</span> </h3>  <div class="body vector-menu-content">  <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"><li id="n-Saloon-bar"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Saloon_bar">Saloon bar</a></li><li id="n-To-do-list"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:To_do_list">To do list</a></li><li id="n-What-is-going-on.3F"><a href="/wiki/WIGO">What is going on?</a></li><li id="n-Best-of-RationalWiki"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Contents">Best of RationalWiki</a></li><li id="n-About-RationalWiki"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki">About RationalWiki</a></li><li id="n-Technical-support"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Technical_support">Technical support</a></li><li id="n-Mod-noticeboard"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki_talk:All_things_in_moderation">Mod noticeboard</a></li><li id="n-RMF-noticeboard"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki_talk:RationalMedia_Foundation">RMF noticeboard</a></li></ul> </div> </nav>  <nav id="p-Social media" class="vector-menu vector-menu-portal portal" aria-labelledby="p-Social media-label" role="navigation" > <h3 id="p-Social media-label"> <span>Social media</span> </h3>  <div class="body vector-menu-content">  <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"><li id="n-Twitter"><a href="https://twitter.com/RationalWiki" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></li><li id="n-Mastodon"><a href="https://mstdn.social/@rationalwiki" rel="nofollow">Mastodon</a></li><li id="n-Facebook"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rationalwiki/226614404019306" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></li><li id="n-Discord"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Discord">Discord</a></li><li id="n-Reddit"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Reddit">Reddit</a></li></ul> </div> </nav>  <nav id="p-tb" class="vector-menu vector-menu-portal portal" aria-labelledby="p-tb-label" role="navigation" > <h3 id="p-tb-label"> <span>Tools</span> </h3>  <div class="body vector-menu-content">  <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"><li id="t-whatlinkshere"><a href="/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere/Comet_Elenin" title="A list of all wiki pages that link here [j]" accesskey="j">What links here</a></li><li id="t-recentchangeslinked"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Comet_Elenin" rel="nofollow" title="Recent changes in pages linked from this page [k]" accesskey="k">Related changes</a></li><li id="t-specialpages"><a href="/wiki/Special:SpecialPages" title="A list of all special pages [q]" accesskey="q">Special pages</a></li><li id="t-print"><a href="javascript:print();" rel="alternate" title="Printable version of this page [p]" accesskey="p">Printable version</a></li><li id="t-permalink"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&oldid=2688235" title="Permanent link to this revision of the page">Permanent link</a></li><li id="t-info"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comet_Elenin&action=info" title="More information about this page">Page information</a></li></ul> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <footer id="footer" class="mw-footer" role="contentinfo" > <ul id="footer-info" > <li id="footer-info-lastmod"> This page was last edited on 19 October 2024, at 17:10.</li> <li id="footer-info-copyright">Unless explicitly noted otherwise, all content licensed as indicated by <a name="Copyright" href="//rationalwiki.org/wiki/RationalWiki:Copyrights">RationalWiki:Copyrights</a>. <br> For concerns on copyright infringement please see: <a name="Copyright infringement" href="//rationalwiki.org/wiki/RationalWiki:Copyright_violations">RationalWiki:Copyright violations</a></li> </ul> <ul id="footer-places" > <li id="footer-places-privacy"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Privacy_policy" title="RationalWiki:Privacy policy">Privacy policy</a></li> <li id="footer-places-about"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:About" class="mw-redirect" title="RationalWiki:About">About RationalWiki</a></li> <li id="footer-places-disclaimer"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:General_disclaimer" title="RationalWiki:General disclaimer">Disclaimers</a></li> </ul> <ul id="footer-icons" class="noprint"> <li id="footer-copyrightico"><a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"><img src="/w/88x31.png" alt="CC-BY-SA 3.0, or any later version" width="88" height="31" loading="lazy"/></a></li> <li id="footer-poweredbyico"><a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/"><img src="/w/resources/assets/poweredby_mediawiki_88x31.png" alt="Powered by MediaWiki" srcset="/w/resources/assets/poweredby_mediawiki_132x47.png 1.5x, /w/resources/assets/poweredby_mediawiki_176x62.png 2x" width="88" height="31" loading="lazy"/></a></li> </ul> <div style="clear: both;"></div> </footer> <script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.config.set({"wgPageParseReport":{"limitreport":{"cputime":"0.304","walltime":"0.986","ppvisitednodes":{"value":1517,"limit":1000000},"postexpandincludesize":{"value":16815,"limit":2097152},"templateargumentsize":{"value":4644,"limit":2097152},"expansiondepth":{"value":10,"limit":40},"expensivefunctioncount":{"value":0,"limit":100},"unstrip-depth":{"value":0,"limit":20},"unstrip-size":{"value":30599,"limit":5000000},"timingprofile":["100.00% 257.895 1 -total"," 43.29% 111.652 2 Template:Navsidebar"," 34.91% 90.040 1 Template:Conspiracynav"," 33.75% 87.047 4 Template:Randomarticles"," 26.80% 69.117 2 Template:Reflist"," 14.11% 36.381 2 Template:Navsidebar2"," 10.76% 27.750 1 Template:Astronomy"," 4.65% 12.004 3 Template:See-wp"," 4.40% 11.360 1 Template:Silver"," 3.76% 9.689 2 Template:Vte"]},"cachereport":{"origin":"apache5","timestamp":"20250225180110","ttl":86400,"transientcontent":false}}});mw.config.set({"wgBackendResponseTime":62,"wgHostname":"apache5"});});</script></body></html>