space vehicle frommany countrieswill get a rare opportunity to contemplate a comet as it hurtles past Mars on Sunday , October 19 . For any comet to come so closely to a planet is unusual , but the comet ’s chronicle should make this meet particularly interesting . Amateur astronomer may also be able to join in as the comet is visible withmoderate - sized telescopes .
Comet Siding Spring was reported by Rob McNaught last year . Having constitute 82 comets , more than any other person in account , and having thebrightest comet of recent yearsnamed after him , McNaught accredit this uncovering tothe observatorywhere the observations were made .
When McNaught let on Comet Siding Spring , or C/2013 A1 as it was originally know , its orbit was calculate as read it so close to Mars that it was believe possible it might clash . It have more than a year before this was ruled out , with an estimated clearance of 139,500 klick ( 87,000 miles)—less than half the distance between the Earth and our moonlight .
The itinerary of the missions orbiting Mars have been correct , where necessary , to secure they are far enough away to be safe , not only from the comet itselfbut from the trail of debris it will provide behind . Meanwhile , NASA ’s Mars orbiters will keep a nigh eye on the comet and the influence its tail hason the Martian standard atmosphere .
Comets are divided into two family , inadequate and foresighted - period comets . Long - period comet have spend most of their being in the Oort Cloud , at distances where the sun appears as fiddling more than a bright star . Consequently , they are time capsules of the early solar system . poor - menstruation comet , on the other hand , have become trapped in the intimate or in-between solar organisation and pass close enough to the sun to lose their out layer regularly , gradually squinch by to nothing but food grain of detritus .
Comet Siding Spring does n’t seem to be a peculiarly large comet , but as an interloper from the Oort Cloud on its first pass tight to the sun , it put up a contrast to theshort - period of time cometsto which we have place spacecraft .
“ This is a cosmic science gift that could potentially keep on giving , and the bureau ’s diverse science mission will be in full receive mode , ” says NASA ’s John Grunsfeld . “ This picky comet has never before enter the intimate solar arrangement , so it will provide a fresh reservoir of clues to our solar organization ’s former day . ”
This will be the second time we have had a good thought of the interaction of a comet and a planet after Shoemaker - Levy 9’sspectacular collision with Jupiter in 1994 .
The comet may be among McNaught ’s last , with the Australian governmentrefusing to match NASA fundingto keep his program going .
