Comet Siding Spring Orbit

Scientists are in the early stages of assembling a.

Comet siding spring orbit.

C 2013 a1 is an oort cloud comet discovered on 3 january 2013 by robert h. The orbit of comet siding spring c 2013 a1 is highly eccentric. 19 2014 the nucleus of comet c 2013 a1 siding spring missed mars by about one third of the distance between earth and earth s moon or one tenth the distance at which any identified comet has flown past earth. To further refine the comet s orbit.

That presented a unique science opportunity for the five orbiting spacecraft and two rovers at the red planet. Light takes 2 hours 28 minutes and 26 7935 seconds to travel from comet c 2013 a1 siding spring and arrive to us. This comet sneaked up on us because it was coming in from underneath the plane of earth s orbit. At the time of its discovery comet siding spring was farther from the sun than jupiter.

Its orbital path can be seen in the movie below. C 2013 a1 passed the planet. After leaving the planetary region of the solar system the post perihelion orbital period is estimated to be roughly 1 million years. Distance kilometers 2 670 189 521 distance au 17 849114.

Mcnaught at siding spring observatory using the 0 5 meter uppsala southern schmidt telescope. Based on data through april 7 2013 the latest orbital plot places the comet s closest approach to mars slightly closer than previous estimates at about 68 000 miles 110 000 kilometers. Images of the comet taken in march 2010 by n howes using the faulkes telescope. Mcnaught spotted it with the constellation lepus in the star background.

New observations of comet c 2013 a1 siding spring have allowed nasa s near earth object office at the jet propulsion laboratory in pasadena calif. A close encounter between mars and comet c 2013 a1 siding spring in 2014 is creating both opportunity and anxiety in scientific circles. Siding spring came within 1 2 astronomical units of earth and 2 25 au of the sun on october 7 2009. Orbit of comet siding spring.

Several spacecraft from nasa europe and india were expected to track the comet s approach from their positions in orbit. At the time of discovery it was 7 2 au from the sun and located in the constellation lepus. The comet was visible with binoculars until january 2010. The distance of comet c 2013 a1 siding spring from earth is currently 2 670 189 521 kilometers equivalent to 17 849114 astronomical units.

C 2007 q3 siding spring is an oort cloud comet that was discovered by donna burton in 2007 at siding spring observatory in new south wales australia. It spends the vast majority of its life in the oort cloud. Comet siding spring flew about 87 000 miles from mars during the encounter. The most interesting thing about c 2013 a1 s orbit is that it will come very close to mars on october 19 2014.