Comet Siding Spring View From Mars

Comet siding spring seen next to mars.

Comet siding spring view from mars.

Edt october 19 2014. 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 images of comet siding spring were taken against a backdrop of the pre dawn martian sky on sunday oct. 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.

The dense inner coma reached the surface of the planet or nearly so. This composite hubble space telescope image captures the positions of comet siding spring and mars in a never before seen close passage of a comet by the red planet which happened at 2 28 p m. 19 comet c 2013 a1 comet siding spring will pass within about 87 000 miles 139 500 km of mars. 19 allowing scientists an unprecedented look at the comet as it flies by the red planet.

Nasa s mars exploration rover opportunity captured images of a comet passing much closer to mars than any previous known comet flyby of earth or mars. In orbit around mars were the spacecraft mars reconnaissance orbiter 2001 mars odyssey esa s mars express maven and the indian mars orbiter mission mangalyaan. Mars and comet siding spring were visible to the stereo a spacecraft during the 2014 encounter. On that date the comet passed by mars at approximately 87 000 miles about one third the distance between earth and the moon.

Comet siding spring flew about 87 000. The faint comet shows a small condensed coma and bent tail. 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.