I suppose it depends on whether it's a long-period or short-period comet. A short one pretty much already equalized with the Sun probably wouldn't put on much of a show.
A long-period coment, however... at the very least, I imagine the tether would melt.
Osmosis
Re: Harpooning Comets... A bad idea?
Make the tether from resistor wire
Phorce
Re: Harpooning Comets... A bad idea?
They might get a nasty shock
Osmosis
Re: Harpooning Comets... A bad idea?
Ah, yes, but not if they wear thick rubber gloves!
Sparky
Re: Harpooning Comets... A bad idea?
mharratsc wrote: I suppose it depends on whether it's a long-period or short-period comet. A short one pretty much already equalized with the Sun probably wouldn't put on much of a show.
A long-period coment, however... at the very least, I imagine the tether would melt.
hey mike, I was thinking more of the the space craft equalizing with the comet. the comet could still have a potential difference to the sun, and that wouldn't make any difference if the space craft and comet were potentially close. seems that i read about space craft picking up a negative charge leaving earth...
the problem is that the electrical environment is changing quickly...how do we control a potential equalization between the comet and space craft? and if that could be done, would the space craft take on the appearance of a comet.?...
[F]or the first time ever scientists ... have reported observations and analysis of the final death throes of a comet, as it passed across the face of the Sun on July 6, 2011, to vanish in flight.
... "I think the light pulses in the tail were one of the most interesting things we witnessed," said Schrijver. "The comet's tail gets brighter by as much as four times every minute or two. The comet seems first to put a lot of material into that tail, then less, and then the pattern repeats. Only because of these pulses can we measure how fast the tail falls behind the comet as its gases collide with those in the Sun's atmosphere. And that, in turn, helps us measure the comet's weight.
* The brightening pulses are what made the comet visible that close to the Sun. EU says those light pulses are electric discharges, i.e. lightning flashes.
During its 15 years of observations, the LASCO instrument on SOHO has observed more than 2000 comets as they approached the Sun. The population of these Sun-grazing comets is dominated by the Kreutz group, whose members orbit to within one to two solar radii from the solar surface (photosphere) every 500 to 1000 years.
More than 1400 of the comets seen by SOHO are members of the Kreutz group, making it the largest known group of comets, likely originating from the breakup of a progenitor body as recently as 2500 years ago. Only the largest of the Kreutz group comets, with diameters of up to about 330 feet have survived perihelion - their closest approach to the Sun.
* I wonder what that progenitor body was and if the 2500 year dating is accurate.
Of particular interest: 1:12 --- glowing discharge, eerie blue beams 2:37 --- glowing jet/geyser/beam 3:13 --- erupting jets and geysers, magnetic fields
Images shown at 0:43 and 2:33 are amusing.
Respectfully submitted, Steve
GaryN
Re: Electric Comets
On the James McCanney Science Hour for 8 Nov, he discusses Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON), and predicts some possible alignments and events. I'm not really familiar with this guy, maybe scare-mongering for profit? He does describe events similar to those reported in ancient and not so ancient accounts.
He states ISON is a "planet sized object"...I had read it was a"few kilometers"large... He warns against internet "non-scientists" misrepresenting EU theory and claims to have coined the term "Electric Universe"in 1979...no mention of Velikovsky or Talbott or anyone else ?
hmmm...
nick c
Re: Electric Comets
hi GaryN, promethean
We are familiar with James McCanney. He had a couple of articles in Kronos in the 1980's: http://www.catastrophism.com/cdrom/pubs ... /index.htm http://www.catastrophism.com/cdrom/pubs ... /index.htm I do not know if he coined the term "Electric Universe" first, maybe he did. But his comet theory has nothing in common with the electric comet model that has been proposed by Thornhill, Scott, and others and has been the topic of discussions in this forum, TPOD's, and Holoscience site. Last time I checked, and it was years ago, McCanney thinks that comets are accreting material and evolve into planets, moons, and asteroids. Of course this is in contrast to the electric comet (Thunderbolts) model which has comets losing material through a process analogous to electric discharge machining. So maybe there is a common terminology, ie 'electric', but the models are very different.
promethean
Re: Electric Comets
So anyone know how big ISON might be? McCanney's website says "planet sized"; what do the mainstream say ?
promethean
Re: Electric Comets
I checked mainstream sites and saw it referred to as "large" and "active"...but that's all... so anyone have better info?
promethean
Re: Electric Comets
September 30, 2012 by Stephen Smith:
Comet 2012 S1, an objectapproximately three kilometers in diameter, is presently inside the orbit of Jupiter.------a coma (charge sheath) forms around them.------Hale-Bopp did not obey the standard theory of cometary activity. In the deep places of the Solar System, past Jupiter's orbit, the comet displayed an ion tail, several jets of bright material spewing into space and a glowing coma. -----What will determine its fate is the electrical potential that will develop between the comet and the Sun. How much charge it will accumulate, and how rapidly that charge disperses are going to be the deciding factors.
(a smallish planet , eh ? )
webolife
Re: Electric Comets
I noticed in descriptions of other comets that astronomers would note the size of the coma as being of planetary proportions, which can be vey confusing I'm sure to a lay reader. They will say "head" rather than nucleus, and ambiguity ensues.
Maybe it's science writers, rather than the astronomers themselves...
