Some people panicked when soothsayers predicted that the approach of Comet Elenin would trigger catastrophic earthquakes and tsunamis, or worse, suggesting that Elenin was not a comet but a rogue planet called Nibiru that would usher in the Apocalypse.

Now everyone will feel relieved knowing that Comet Elenin had zipped by the Earth last October 16 and none of the predictions happened.

In fact, Elenin made its closest flyby our planet at 22 million miles or 35.4 million kilometers and broke up in pieces into deep space.

According to scientists, Comet Elenin was hit by a powerful solar storm sometime in August, and a close pass by the sun on Sept. 10 finished it off. Thus, what came near the Earth over the weekend was likely a stream of debris.

"Now it's just a cloud of particles that will follow along in the comet's path and exit in the solar system," says Astronomer Don Yeomans of the Near-Earth Object Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., adding that we won't be seeing any of the particles for at lease another 12 millenia.

Although the apocalyptic rumor mill generated by Elenin's arrival on the skywatching scene has been proven wrong, the apocalyptically minded may not want to leave their bunkers just yet as Christian-radio broadcaster Harold Camping says the world will end on Oct. 21.

Camping originally pegged the Rapture for May 21, 2011, but revised his prediction when that date came and no apocalypse happened.