Asri-unix.863 net.space utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!ARPAVAX:C70:sri-unix!DIETZ@USC-ECL Sun Feb 28 13:04:01 1982 Comet strike this summer? The comet Swift-Tuttle may be returning this summer. It was first observed in 1862, and has a calculated period of around 120 years. What makes Swift-Tuttle interesting is that it is the comet responsible for the Perseid Meteor shower every August 10-14. If the comet crosses the earths orbit at the right time there could be a collision. No one knows for sure, since the comet has not been spotted since 1862 and the orbit is somewhat uncertain. The editor of Sky and Telescope magazine's comet digest column puts the chance of collision at around one in a million. A near miss will be quite spectacular. In any case, the Perseid shower has been getting heavier in recent years, and promises to be even better this year. ------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.