🚀 go-pugleaf

Ken Jenks writes:

> The date given in the Post is 2116, while the date given in the "SKY
> TV" notice and the date my office mate gave me were both 2016.  No
> NASA people involved in the discovery.
> 
> The Smith-Tuttle comet was first discovered in 1862.  Steel re-acquired
> it on Oct. 15th.  The International Astronomical Union (IAU), for the
> first time every, could not rule out a collision with Earth.  The story
> says the Smith-Tuttle comet, a 3.1-mile-wide dirty snowball, "could
> plunge the world into the Dark Ages."
> 
> Of course, the million-nukes and plunge-into-Dark-Ages part of the
> story was front page, but the technical details were on the
> continuation on A-6.  Reading the details, it becomes clear that there
> are no calculations which prove there WILL be a collision, just
> speculation that there MIGHT be a collision on August 14, 2116,
> when Smith-Tuttle's orbit intersects that of the Earth.
> 
> Drat.  I was hoping for the "Comet" movie scenario and a real shot
> in the arm for the space program.  A 2016 collision would be a
> real challenge; 2116 is far enough away that Congress won't feel 
> the need for immediate action.

First of all, the name is P/Swift-Tuttle.  Second, both dates are wrong;
the year of the next perihelion passage in 2126.  Third, the recovery was
not by Steel himself, but rather by a Japanese amateur astronomer by the
name of Kiuchi.  Fourth, didn't your site receive the earlier postings
that would have clarified all of this? Check out IAU Circular 5636 for
details.  This one was posted, though I don't encourage this practice.