Watch Live as Comet Siding Spring Flys By Mars

By Nancy Atkinson - October 19, 2014 at 8:35 AM UTC | Planetary Science
Siding-Spring-flotilla-580x3261.jpg

Comet Siding Spring will pass close to Mars today, Sunday, October 19, at 18:32 UTC. The comet will come within 139,500 km (87,000 miles) of the Red Planet, which is sixteen times closer to Mars than any known comet has ever come to Earth. About 100 minutes after the closest approach, the densest part of the comet's tail will pass Mars' location. You can watch live below courtesy of Slooh, ESA and the Virtual Telescope, below:

Slooh will feature two shows. The first show, billed "Close Call - Comet Siding Spring Zips by Mars," will start at 11:15 AM PDT / 2:15 PM EDT / 18:15 UTC -

International times here

where Slooh will track Comet Siding Spring on close-approach live from South Africa and later from the Canary Islands. The second show, billed "Comet Siding Spring - the Outcome" will start at 5:30 PM PDT / 8:30 PM EDT / 00:30 UTC (10/20) -

International times here

  • where Slooh will continue to track the comet live from Slooh's southern observatory located at the Catholic University (PUC) - both shows will feature expert commentary by esteemed astrobiologist David Grinspoon and Slooh host Geoff Fox. The latter show will feature a special discussion with Slooh astronomer Bob Berman, who will be on location in Chile. Viewers can ask questions during each show by using hashtag #SloohComet.

Here's ESA's livestream:

Watch

live streaming video

from

eurospaceagency

at livestream.com

Also, Gianluca Masi's

Virtual Telescope

streaming begins Sunday, Oct. 19 at 11:45 a.m. CDT (16:45 UT)

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