C 2013 a1 siding spring is an oort cloud comet discovered on 3 january 2013 by robert h.
Comet siding spring update.
An illustration by nasa depicts the comet siding spring 2013 a1 traveling toward mars a comet the size of a small mountain and.
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 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.
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.
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 at siding spring observatory using the 0 5 meter 20 in uppsala southern schmidt telescope.
Comet siding spring whizzes past mars update by jenny vaughan.
19 at a distance of approximately 87 000 miles.
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.
Update october 18 2014.
19 comet c 2013 a1 comet siding spring will pass within about 87 000 miles 139 500 km of mars.
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.