We're scared of comets for a reason

by Simon at 10:11 23/05/06 (Blogs::Simon)

Ruminations on the theme of humanity's fear of comets.

This thought is brought to you by the keywords Encke, Taurid and catastrophe.

20K years ago, comet 2P/Encke (a hitherto long period or extra-solar body) was captured in the inner solar system and disintegrated, possibly resulting in periodic earth impacts on a 3K year timescale, associated with the November Taurid meteor shower.

For reference:

http://star.arm.ac.uk/~aac/zetataur.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2P/Encke

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Dynasty_silk_comet_atlas

See also: "Evidence of comet impact 13000 years ago" [added 2007-05-22]
--
simon

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