At the time of its discovery comet siding spring was farther from the sun than jupiter about 7 2 times farther away from the sun than earth.
Comet siding spring update.
Siding spring officially designated comet c 2013 a1 made its closest approach to mars at 2 28 p m.
Mcnaught at siding spring observatory using the 0 5 meter 20 in uppsala southern schmidt telescope.
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.
Comet siding spring whizzes past mars update by jenny vaughan.
Hurtling through space at about 35 miles 56 kilometers per second comet siding spring c 2013 a1 will sweep very close to the planet mars today.
The latest trajectory of comet 2013 a1 siding spring generated by the near earth object program office at nasa s jet propulsion laboratory in pasadena calif indicates the comet will pass within 186 000 miles 300 000 kilometers of mars and there is a strong possibility that it might pass much closer.
Update october 18 2014.
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.
An illustration by nasa depicts the comet siding spring 2013 a1 traveling toward mars a comet the size of a small mountain and.
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.
C 2013 a1 siding spring is an oort cloud comet discovered on 3 january 2013 by robert h.
19 at a distance of approximately 87 000 miles.