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. 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. 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. 19 comet c 2013 a1 comet siding spring will pass within about 87 000 miles 139 500 km of mars.

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. C 2013 a1 siding spring is an oort cloud comet discovered on 3 january 2013 by robert h. 19 at a distance of approximately 87 000 miles. 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. 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. Siding spring officially designated comet c 2013 a1 made its closest approach to mars at 2 28 p m. Comet siding spring whizzes past mars update by jenny vaughan.