Comet impact narrowly avoided in 1883

Except that the article is talking about it being 8 times larger than Halleys Comet at it's original size, not when it passed by us in over 400 pieces. Halleys Comet is on it's largest side 15km(11km mean) or 1500m. The comet fragments in the article are estimated to range from 46m to 795m. Making the largest piece of the comet that passed by just slightly more than half the size of Halleys Comet. Your math is off a bit. 15km would be 15,000 meters, so the largest piece would only be one 18th the size of Halley's Comet.

Indeed, such a comet would have been major news. Also, considering there were no electric lights in 1883 it would have stood out like a sore thumb. I disagree. It was broken up into so many small pieces, so it wouldn't have had a corona or tail that would make these fragment highly visible like a typcal Comet would have.

Well, I now disagree too. Since the comet's size has now been recalculated to be much smaller than originally claimed it could have easily have been too small to be noticed. Revision of this nature (ie, the size of the comet) changes things considerably.

Well, I now disagree too. Since the comet's size has now been recalculated to be much smaller than originally claimed it could have easily have been too small to be noticed. Revision of this nature (ie, the size of the comet) changes things considerably. Let me ask what recalculation you are talking about?

Let me ask what recalculation you are talking about? Razer said: Would not a coment that close to Earth and that size, 8 times larger than HaLley's, been so visible in the night sky that it would have been major news? Then, BaneSilverMoon said: Except that the article is talking about it being 8 times larger than Halleys Comet at it's original size, not when it passed by us in over 400 pieces. Halleys Comet is on it's largest side 15km(11km mean) or 1500m. The comet fragments in the article are estimated to range from 46m to 795m. Making the largest piece of the comet that passed by just sligh... [More]

Razer said: Then, BaneSilverMoon said: Then, you said: That's the recalculation I'm talking about. Obviously, if the comet fragmented into small pieces it would not have been as visible. Still, one would think that with cometary fragments ranging from 46 meters (150.91 feet) to 795 meters (2,608.26 feet; almost half a mile) and only 5000 miles away, someone else would have noticed them. cormac

I'm not going o comment on whether I believe this to be a real comet, but I think its interesting that only 2 weeks later the earth experienced the largest volcanic explosion in human memory. Krakatoa. Nitpick: Krakatoa is not the largest volcanic explosion in history. The eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 was a bigger eruption.

the Big question is when is it due to return and what is its path?

Your math is off a bit. 15km would be 15,000 meters, so the largest piece would only be one 18th the size of Halley's Comet. Wow lol. Don't do math when you're tired and in a hurry. Thanks for correcting that sir lol.. gawd...

the Big question is when is it due to return and what is its path? If it was a comet then I wouldn't worry too much about its return. The Earth's orbit has a diameter of c. 300 million km and the Earth is a pretty small target in that range. The distance it passed by the Earth is no indicator how close it will come the next time. In the meantime there are plenty of near earth objects that might wipe us out to worry you. Watch the following YouTube animation (in HD if possible as you can really only see the detail in HD). The red objects are asteroids that cross the Earth's orbit and the yellow... [More]