Comet Siding Spring Mars Encounter

Follow comet siding spring at marscomet on october 19 comet siding spring will pass within 88 000 miles of mars just one third of the distance from the e.

Comet siding spring mars encounter.

Just weeks before the historic encounter of comet c 2013 a1 siding spring with mars in october 2014 nasa s mars atmosphere and volatile evolution maven spacecraft entered orbit around the red planet. This map shows the sky facing southwest at nightfall from. This sunday october 19 mars will have a close encounter with comet siding spring. One thing we know for certain is that the.

In orbit around mars were the spacecraft mars reconnaissance orbiter 2001 mars odyssey esa s mars express maven and the indian mars orbiter mission mangalyaan. Mars and comet siding spring were visible to the stereo a spacecraft during the 2014 encounter. Artist s concept of comet c 2013 a1 siding spring heading toward mars. Watch over the coming nights as they draw ever closer.

And by close i mean close. While comet siding spring also called comet c 2013 a1 isn t easy to spot from earth a couple different astronomy organizations will be tracking the comet as it flies 87 000 miles 139 500. 19 at a distance of approximately 87 000 miles. Nasa s hubble space telescope has produced a unique composite image of comet siding spring as it made its never before seen close passage of a comet by mars.

Fritz helmut hemmerich made this video from 1200 meters at tenerife in the canary islands showing comet siding spring immediately after its mars encounter. The paths of mars and comet siding spring are clearly on a near collision course.