Comet Siding Spring Orbit

A close encounter between mars and comet c 2013 a1 siding spring in 2014 is creating both opportunity and anxiety in scientific circles.

Comet siding spring orbit. Based on data through april 7 2013 the latest orbital plot places the comet s closest approach to mars slightly closer than previous estimates at about 68 000 miles 110 000 kilometers. Luckily asteroid and comet hunter robert h. The comet was visible with binoculars until january 2010. 19 2014 the nucleus of comet c 2013 a1 siding spring missed mars by about one third of the distance between earth and earth s moon or one tenth the distance at which any identified comet has flown past earth.

Orbit of comet siding spring. Mcnaught at siding spring observatory using the 0 5 meter uppsala southern schmidt telescope. 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. C 2013 a1 passed the planet.

At the time of discovery it was 7 2 au from the sun and located in the constellation lepus. Images of the comet taken in march 2010 by n howes using the faulkes telescope. Scientists are in the early stages of assembling a. Mcnaught spotted it with the constellation lepus in the star background.

After leaving the planetary region of the solar system the post perihelion orbital period is estimated to be roughly 1 million years. To further refine the comet s orbit. Siding spring came within 1 2 astronomical units of earth and 2 25 au of the sun on october 7 2009. Its orbital path can be seen in the movie below.

Comet c 2013 a1 probably took millions of years to come from the oort cloud. Distance kilometers 2 670 189 521 distance au 17 849114. The distance of comet c 2013 a1 siding spring from earth is currently 2 670 189 521 kilometers equivalent to 17 849114 astronomical units. That presented a unique science opportunity for the five orbiting spacecraft and two rovers at the red planet.

This comet sneaked up on us because it was coming in from underneath the plane of earth s orbit. C 2013 a1 is an oort cloud comet discovered on 3 january 2013 by robert h. Light takes 2 hours 28 minutes and 26 7935 seconds to travel from comet c 2013 a1 siding spring and arrive to us. The most interesting thing about c 2013 a1 s orbit is that it will come very close to mars on october 19 2014.

It spends the vast majority of its life in the oort cloud. The orbit of comet siding spring c 2013 a1 is highly eccentric. At the time of its discovery comet siding spring was farther from the sun than jupiter. C 2007 q3 siding spring is an oort cloud comet that was discovered by donna burton in 2007 at siding spring observatory in new south wales australia.