Comet Siding Spring 2016

A comet s coma is the atmosphere of gas and dust around the nucleus of the comet.

Comet siding spring 2016. Close comet flyby threw mars magnetic field into chaos. The dense inner coma reached the surface of the planet or nearly so. The first finder chart has a field of view of 50 degrees while the second one has a field of view of 10 degrees. New scientific reports are providing spectacular details on the comet siding spring s close encounter with the planet mars.

The close encounter between comet siding spring and mars flooded the planet with an invisible tide of charged particles from the comet s coma. The close encounter between comet siding spring and mars flooded the planet with an invisible tide of charged particles from the comet s coma. The comet s powerful magnetic field temporarily merged with and overwhelmed the planet s weak field as shown in this artist s. According to nasa investigators the effects of the encounter on the.

Nasa s extensive fleet of science assets particularly those orbiting and roving mars have front row seats to image and study this once in a lifetime flyby. At the time of discovery it was 7 2 au from the sun and located in the constellation lepus comet c 2013 a1 probably took millions of years to come from the oort cloud. The comet s powerful magnetic field temporarily merged with and overwhelmed the planet s weak field as shown in this artist s depiction. 10 march 2016 astronomy now.

C 2013 a1 siding spring is an oort cloud comet discovered on 3 january 2013 by robert h. Comet siding spring s nucleus a nugget of ice and rock measuring no more than half a kilometer about 1 3 mile is small but the coma is expansive stretching out a million kilometers. When comet siding spring passed mars the comet s coma washed over the planet for several hours with the dense inner coma perhaps reaching the surface. Now that scientists can see the coma they estimate it is roughly 12 000 miles 19 000 kilometers across.

Below we provide comet c 2013 a1 siding spring finder charts showing where the object is right now in the sky with respect to the brightest stars. Comet siding spring has crossed the snow and water lines key points when it is close enough for the sun s warmth to activate it. The dense inner coma reached the surface of the planet or nearly so. Nasa s goddard space flight center press release.

Comet c 2013 a1 siding spring position and finder charts. The comet s powerful magnetic field temporarily merged with and overwhelmed the planet s weak field as shown in this artist s depiction. Mcnaught at siding spring observatory using the 0 5 meter 20 in uppsala southern schmidt telescope.