Comet Siding Spring Update
Update october 18 2014.
Comet siding spring update. The latest trajectory of comet 2013 a1 siding spring generated by the near earth object program office at nasa s jet propulsion laboratory in pasadena calif indicates the comet will pass within 186 000 miles 300 000 kilometers of mars and there is a strong possibility that it might pass much closer. Siding spring officially designated comet c 2013 a1 made its closest approach to mars at 2 28 p m. At the time of its discovery comet siding spring was farther from the sun than jupiter about 7 2 times farther away from the sun than earth. Comet siding spring whizzes past mars update by jenny vaughan.
19 comet c 2013 a1 comet siding spring will pass within about 87 000 miles 139 500 km of mars. Comet buzzes mars in once in a lifetime flyby the comet siding spring has successfully zoomed by mars in a super rare close encounter that is one for the history books. Mcnaught achieved this triumph on january 3 2013 using the 0 5 meter 20 inch uppsala schmidt telescope at siding spring observatory in new south wales australia. 19 at a distance of approximately 87 000 miles.
C 2013 a1 siding spring is an oort cloud comet discovered on 3 january 2013 by robert h. 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. Mcnaught at siding spring observatory using the 0 5 meter 20 in uppsala southern schmidt telescope. Hurtling through space at about 35 miles 56 kilometers per second comet siding spring c 2013 a1 will sweep very close to the planet mars today.