Elenin Coma Diameter Exceeds 200,000 km says Leonid Elenin
spaceobs.org
So, the first results. The comet has grown. Now the diameter of it’s outer coma exceeded 200,000 km! Of course, at this time we have only low resolution images, but they still allow us to estimateits current size. I want to remind you that the outer coma, it’s very discharged gas envelope, not the nucleus itself, estimates of the nucleus size has not changed. On the left picture you can see the comet itself, as well as the angular size of the Sun, if it was located at the same distance as comet. Impressive?(visit the link for the full news article)
Leonid says nucleus is still probably 3-4 km, but how this can be possible?
I've tried to remain skeptical and not get too worried, but things seem to be picking up.
Apparently it's larger than Jupiter and as it passes the asteroid belt the coma will grow! The diameter of jupiter is 143,000 km.
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