🚀 go-pugleaf

John Black (black@breeze.rsre.mod.uk) wrote:
> What are the chances of the comet's orbit to be change significantly so that 
> the close approach or impact doesn't happen. More specifically, what is the 
> affect of outgassing or gravitaional interaction with a giant planet?
> 
From what I'm reading, the collision won't happen based on current
estimates, but might happen if errors, velocity changes due to outgassing
etc. amount to a couple of weeks difference in arrival time in 2126.

As for the giant planet question, that's easy: there is zero probability of
encounter with a giant planet, as the orbit of S-T is inclined 113 degrees
to the ecliptic. (OK, that's really only 67 degrees, but there's a
convention based on the preferred orbital direction of the planets)

> PS no-one answered my question about what the "P/" means infront of comet names
Yes, they did - it means "periodic" and is used for comets that are known to 
return at regular intervals.  Possibly the answers were inadvertently tagged
for 'Distribution : usa'.  This one is world, just in case.

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