Comet Siding Spring Buzzes Mars

Hubble images show comet siding spring has passed the snow and water lines the points at which the sun s warmth activates or releases gases and water ice to form the coma and tail.

Comet siding spring buzzes mars. Comet siding spring flew about 87 000 miles from mars during the encounter. Comet siding spring s dust tail will completely engulf the entire planet when mars travels through it. Edt 1827 gmt today about one third of the distance between earth and the moon. The comet siding spring whizzed within 87 000 miles of mars close enough to the red planet that the fleet of spacecraft orbiting mars ducked for cover.

Comet siding spring s close encounter with the fleet of orbiters and rovers at mars is expected to give scientists their most detailed look yet at an object from the oort cloud. The comet will buzz the red planet on october 19. An artist s conception of comet siding spring and mars. Comet siding spring hails from the oort cloud.

Spacecraft are not to scale in a rare cosmic close encounter the comet siding spring. In october comet siding spring will buzz mars at 125 000 miles per hour and close enough for the comet s tail of gas and dust to envelop the planet. Comet siding spring mars flyby on sunday oct. Nasa s mars orbiters lined up behind the red planet to avoid dust from the comet siding spring c 2013 a1.

Nasa a comet on a once in a million years journey will graze the atmosphere of mars. Comet siding spring came within just 87 000 miles 139 500 kilometers of the martian surface at 2 27 p m.