Comet Siding Spring Mars Impact

Siding spring s nucleus will come closest to mars around 11 27 a m.

Comet siding spring mars impact. 19 comet c 2013 a1 also known as comet siding spring will pass within about 87 000 miles 139 500 kilometers of the red planet less than half the distance between earth and our moon and less than one tenth the distance of any known comet flyby of earth. Astrophotographer damian peach shares this spectacular image of comet c 2013 a1 siding spring approaching mars taken just hours ago. While earth awaits comet ison the red planet awaits a comet called siding spring. Edt hurtling at about 126 000 mph 56 kilometers per second.

Now mars will see a very close passage of the comet siding spring on october 19th. 7 will provide initial science observations of comet c 2013 a1 siding spring s close flyby of mars and the impact on the martian atmosphere. When the comet was first discovered astronomers. Until that event no one had seen a comet impact a planet.

The faint comet shows a small condensed coma and bent tail. There is the possibility that siding spring will graze or even hit mars in a deep catastrophic impact. A nasa media telecon on friday nov.