Comet Siding Spring is headed towards Mars . Not to worry , though . With its projected flight have it overlook Mars by 84,000 land mile , the comet is unlikely to make much of an wallop on the reddened major planet — but its dust might .
The comet is surround by a dust swarm right now measuring over 12,000 miles with particles moving at a velocity of 125,000 mile per hour . As the comet gets closer to the sun and heats up , the dust cloud will become even more active .
The Hubble snag the late shot above of the comet as it hurtled through space which , after processing , revealed two flow of junk jet off of the comet in opposite counsel . This is practiced news for astronomers who can use that data to tell us more about how the comet and its swarm of dust are propel — and just how that cloud might set up the planet itself and Mars orbiting spacecraft .
As you’re able to see from this function of its flight , the comet wo n’t be coming close enough to our own domain that we ’ll catch a glimpse — although when the comet makes its nearest pass on October 19th , the view from Marsis potential to be striking .
http://io9.com/mars-vs-the-comet-452269784/all
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