The dense inner coma reached the surface of the planet or nearly so.
Comet siding spring mars encounter.
Mcnaught at siding spring observatory using the 0 5 meter 20 in uppsala southern schmidt telescope.
A veteran comet hunter discovered comet siding spring in 2013 a discovery that stunned astronomers when they realized the comet would have a super close encounter with mars on oct.
The comet s powerful magnetic field temporarily merged with and overwhelmed the planet s weak field as shown in this artist s.
A close encounter with mars comet c 2013 a1 siding spring will make a close flyby of mars on october 19.
19 comet c 2013 a1 comet siding spring will pass within about 87 000 miles 139 500 km of mars.
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.
Siding spring officially designated comet c 2013 a1 made its closest approach to mars at 2 28 p m.
Follow comet siding spring at marscomet on october 19 comet siding spring will pass within 88 000 miles of mars just one third of the distance from the e.
Siding spring will be the first comet from the oort cloud to be studied up close by spacecraft giving scientists an invaluable opportunity to.
The close encounter between comet siding spring and mars flooded the planet with an invisible tide of charged particles from the comet s coma.
Close comet flyby threw mars magnetic field into chaos.
C 2013 a1 siding spring is an oort cloud comet discovered on 3 january 2013 by robert h.
At the time of discovery it was 7 2 au from the sun and located in the constellation lepus comet c 2013 a1 probably took millions of years to come from the oort cloud.
Just weeks before the historic encounter of comet c 2013 a1 siding spring with mars in october 2014 nasa s mars atmosphere and volatile evolution maven spacecraft entered orbit around the red planet.
The cme was launched from the largest sunspot.
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.