Comet C/2013-A1 to sail by Mars

The comet, discovered at Siding Spring Observatory last year, is anticipated to pass through the ecliptic on Sunday 19th October 2014, bringing it very close to Mars.

This 700 metre wide chunk of dirty ice from the Oort Cloud will not strike the planet directly, but dust and gas from its coma is expected to warm and thicken the Martian atmosphere for a few hours, increasing atmospheric drag and causing an inconvenience for orbiting spacecraft.

Close encounters of this kind are rare, and it provides a unique opportunity to learn more about the composition of Oort Cloud objects, which are believed to have formed during the accretion of the Solar System some 4.56 billion years ago and have been preserved in its outer reaches ever since.

Siding Spring C/2013-A1 will make its closest approach to the Sun on 25th October, after which it will continue out on its elliptical trajectory away from the planets, not to return for over a million years.

http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/missions/solar-system/comet-siding-spr...

http://www.fallofathousandsuns.com/comet-siding-spring.html

http://www.livecometdata.com/comets/c2013-a1-siding-spring/

http://www.universetoday.com/115090/comet-siding-spring-close-call-for-m...