Comet Siding Spring Mars Impact

7 will provide initial science observations of comet c 2013 a1 siding spring s close flyby of mars and the impact on the martian atmosphere.

Comet siding spring mars impact.

Siding spring s nucleus will come closest to mars around 11 27 a m. Now mars will see a very close passage of the comet siding spring on october 19th. When the comet was first discovered astronomers. 19 comet c 2013 a1 also known as comet siding spring will pass within about 87 000 miles 139 500 kilometers of the red planet less than half the distance between earth and our moon and less than one tenth the distance of any known comet flyby of earth.

There is the possibility that siding spring will graze or even hit mars in a deep catastrophic impact. This possibility is not the likely outcome of siding spring s passage but it cannot be ruled out. While earth awaits comet ison the red planet awaits a comet called siding spring. A nasa media telecon on friday nov.

The faint comet shows a small condensed coma and bent tail. 19 2014 by a telescope with the slooh community observatory during a rare flyby that scientists called a once in a lifetime event. Until that event no one had seen a comet impact a planet.