Is there a comet or asteroid about to hit the Earth?

On Wed, 4 Aug 1999 you wrote:

> The Web is full of predictions taken from Nostradamus' works that the
> complete solar eclipse to occur on 8/11/99 will reveal a large comet coming
> "out of the sun" (from the sun's direction) toward earth. It is predicted
> further that the earth will pass through the comet's tail and in the process
> strike a large meteor concealed in it. Is there any data to indicate that
> there is presently a comet in close proximity to the sun and, if so, in what
> direction is it headed?

There are always a handful of comets around the sun, but none are
currently on a course to come anywhere near the Earth. In addition, we
have spacecraft that are constantly monitoring the sun, and would have
seen any comets orbiting near the sun. And, as by now you probably
realize, nothing untoward was seen during the eclipse.

In addition, comets are very loosely packed, more like a dirty snowball
than a rock. Meteors larger than a grain of sand have never been
observed in comets, despite hundreds of years of observations and numerous
spacecraft fly-bys. While this doesn't preclude that a meteor could be
hidden, most astronomers think that the chances are extremely remote. We
would be more in danger of a direct hit from the comet's nucleus itself.
This may have in fact happened recently - the tunguska Event of the early
1900s involved some sort of object from space exploding above Siberia, and
trees were flattened for hundreds of miles.

> Also, have you received many inquiries on this topic?

We've had a couple.

Thanks for writing.

Sincerely,
Kurtis Williams

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