David,
Good response to R.Belanger on the Elenin perigee (found
here). http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/apr2011/davidr45.htm
I would add that the diagram is a two-dimensional
representation.
Elenin's orbital path currently is inclined to our own orbital
plane by
about 1.84 degrees or so, adding the 3rd dimension. If you notice
the
small triangle in the diagram, it represents the ascending node.
Elenin
comes in from beneath our orbital plane, crosses it at that
ascending node and then increases up away from our orbital plane.
The
only place any object can intersect the diameter of our planet is if it
crosses within distance of the diameter of our planet, along the
earth's orbital plane and orbital path. If that little triangle
was on
the eliptic of our orbit, there would be cause for alarm depending
on
the regularity of Elenin's orbit. However, Elenin
crosses Earth's
orbital plane somewhere between Mercury and Venus, closer to Mercury I
believe . This makes it impossible for it to hit Earth on that
current
trajectory.
Even at perigee (closest approach to Earth's center), the
cometary
object will be almost a quarter of the distance (.234 AU) from Earth to
the sun. To give some perspective on that distance, the moon is
.0026
AU from Earth. Elenin's closest
approach to Earth will be 90 times the distance of the
Earth-Moon distance, based on the current data.
Even Venus at its closest approaches to Earth (.27 AU from Earth
at inferior conjunction) would only be slightly farther away than
Elenin at perigee.
In Christ,
Kevin Heckle
