Observing Comet Siding Spring at Mars

  • Released Friday, October 17, 2014
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On October 19, 2014, Comet Siding Spring will make a remarkably close encounter with Mars, buzzing the Red Planet at just one third of the Earth-Moon distance. To witness this historic event, NASA has mobilized an entire fleet of rovers, orbiters, Earth observatories and space telescopes.

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Watch this video on the NASAexplorer YouTube channel.

On October 19, Comet Siding Spring will pass within 88,000 miles of Mars – just one third of the distance from the Earth to the Moon! Traveling at 33 miles per second and weighing as much as a small mountain, the comet hails from the outer fringes of our solar system, originating in a region of icy debris known as the Oort cloud.

Comets from the Oort cloud are both ancient and rare. Since this is Comet Siding Spring’s first trip through the inner solar system, scientists are excited to learn more about its composition and the effects of its gas and dust on the Mars upper atmosphere. NASA will be watching closely before, during, and after the flyby with its entire fleet of Mars orbiters and rovers, along with the Hubble Space Telescope and dozens of instruments on Earth. The encounter is certain to teach us more about Oort cloud comets, the Martian atmosphere, and the solar system’s earliest ingredients.

For More Information

See http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/comets/sidingspring/

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Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

This page was originally published on Friday, October 17, 2014.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:50 PM EDT.

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