Comet ISON Meteor Shower

[CrimsonEagle]

"For several days around January 12, 2014, Earth will pass through a stream of fine-grained debris from Comet ISON," says Wiegert. "The resulting shower could have some interesting properties.
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According to Wiegert's computer models, the debris stream is populated with extremely tiny grains of dust, no more than a few microns wide, pushed toward Earth by the gentle radiation pressure of the sun. They will be hitting at a speed of 56 km/s or 125,000 mph. Because the particles are so small, Earth’s upper atmosphere will rapidly slow them to a stop.
"Instead of burning up in a flash of light, they will drift gently down to the Earth below," he says.
Don’t expect to notice. The invisible rain of comet dust, if it occurs, would be very slow. It can take months or even years for fine dust to settle out of the high atmosphere.

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/19apr_isonids/

Of course, we will not know until, or even it it will happen, but I can not help but wonder if it is the time of a new plague.

 

[Laura]

Even if some of the dust from the comet carried pathogens, it would take awhile for them to filter down ... if there are penetrating meteorites, of course that can speed things up.

 

[CrimsonEagle]

Even if some of the dust from the comet carried pathogens, it would take awhile for them to filter down ... if there are penetrating meteorites, of course that can speed things up.

Yes, they said it will take months to even years for the dust to settle. Will have to be something to keep an eye on if we are still around.

Wouldn't that be icing on the cake, that during such "interesting" times a plague happens to come along.

Course that would just be me speculating on things that may or may not happen.

I will say that for whatever reason, when I read the word pathogens, in my mind I envisioned Fukushima, (resoundingly so) which I thought was odd.

In the end. Who knows. Will have to wait and see. There is enough to focus on in the present.