Posted on 10/26/2014 7:05:16 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: Yesterday, a comet passed very close to Mars. In fact, Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) passed closer to the red planet than any comet has ever passed to Earth in recorded history. To take advantage of this unique opportunity to study the close interaction of a comet and a planet, humanity currently has five active spacecraft orbiting Mars: NASA's MAVEN, MRO, Mars Odyssey, as well as ESA's Mars Express, and India's Mars Orbiter. Most of these spacecraft have now sent back information that they have not been damaged by small pieces of the passing comet. These spacecraft, as well as the two active rovers on the Martian surface -- NASA's Opportunity and Curiosity -- have taken data and images that will be downloaded to Earth for weeks to come and likely studied for years to come. The featured image taken yesterday, however, was not taken from Mars but from Earth and shows Comet Siding Spring on the lower left as it passed Mars, on the upper right.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit & Copyright: SEN/Damian Peach]
Neat!
Its still early (relatively). I can see the comet, and what looks like the sun, but I cant make out mars. Just not seeing it yet.
It’s interesting that, some years ago, someone retrocalculated the orbits of Halley’s Comet using the greater amount of direct observation since Halley’s time, and found that, around 2000 years ago, assuming no big bumps in the road, Halley’s passed so close to the Earth that the calculations couldn’t even distinguish which side of the Earth it passed, iow, as if the Comet sprang from the Earth in the first place. :’)
How close is that comet to Mars right now? I read it would be within 2,000 miles. Or has it gone past?
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