Here's a Look at Comet Siding Spring Two Days Before its Encounter with Mars

By Nancy Atkinson - October 17, 2014 04:44 PM UTC | Planetary Science

The excitement continues to build as Comet Siding Spring rapidly approaches the Red Planet, and here's the latest view of the comet from prolific astrophotographer

Damian Peach.

While Comet Siding Spring's encounter with Mars on October 19 will not be visible from Earth with the unaided eye, skywatchers in mid-northern latitudes, can now view the comet; an 8-inch (20 cm) or larger telescopes is needed to follow the comet as it travels from Scorpius north to Ophiuchus and its encounter with Mars on October 19.

The comet will come within 139,500 km (86,000 miles) above the planet's surface on Sunday.

In Depth: How to See Comet Siding Spring as it Encounters Mars

Below, see a really nice animation put together by Kevin Gill of the path the comet will take past Mars.

[caption id="attachment_115405" align="aligncenter" width="450"]

An animation of the approach of the comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring on Mars over the next few days. Credit: Kevin Gill. [/caption]

Kevin said on G+

that his animation is based on vector ephemeris from the

JPL Horizons system

.

As our

David Dickinson discussed earlier this week,

if you were an astronaut stranded on the surface of Mars, the comet's passage would be a spectacular sight under the dark Martian sky. Some scientists suggest it could even spawn a short but brilliant meteor shower caused by cometary dust grains plunging into the Martian atmosphere.

The spacecraft in orbit around Mars will be watching Comet Siding Spring too. The fleet of spacecraft from ESA, NASA and ISRO will hide behind the Red Planet on Sunday morning, trying to avoid possible bombardment by tiny grains of dust from the comet. But before and after that, the spacecraft will attempt to gather data on the comet as well as try to measure how the gas and dust interact with the Martian atmosphere.

Stay tuned for news on the comet's encounter with Mars.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com