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Here s what I don t understand. So the comet s path was altered by Jupiter s gravity in 2012. I get that. But Jupiter would only be able to affect a small piece of the debris field s elliptical orbit, as very little of that debris field would have been in close proximity at the time of the comet s pass. So, while I can understand how Earth might pass close enough to the comet s new orbit, I fail to see how that has any bearing on Earth s first encounter with the debris field left behind from previous centuries.
By Mike Dicker (not verified) on 21 May 2014 #permalink