Comet observation from Mars, comets close encounters to Mars in 2013 and 2014 |
Comet observation from Mars, comets close encounters to Mars in 2013 and 2014 |
Feb 25 2013, 10:07 PM
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#1
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Newbie Group: Members Posts: 18 Joined: 20-April 05 From: Czech Republic Member No.: 300 |
Is there is any possibility to observe comets in near future from surface of Mars and/or from Mars orbiters. Which types of instruments are possible to use?
For example (http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi - position Mars 0deg Longitude, 5deg south Latitude, time UTC): 1) Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) 2013-Oct-01 17:19UTC RA 23 07 44.73 DE +69 27 46.0 MAG 2.93 r 1.637007919902 delta 0.07246306543080 So there is relativly very close encounter in October 2013, about 11 million km from Mars.. 2) Comet C/2013 A1 (Sidding Spring) 2014-Oct-19 20:59UTC RA 10 49 50.64 DE -60 38 09.5 MAG -8.29 r 1.401218071277 delta 0.00070643344409 There is still maybe not so precise orbit BUT, there is ONLY about 105 000 km (65 000 miles) encounter from Mars. Especially the second comet, if this orbit will be OK, is very interesting target to observe. -------------------- |
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Mar 6 2013, 03:31 PM
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#2
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 4256 Joined: 17-January 05 Member No.: 152 |
October 2014 will be well into southern spring, around solar longitude 210 or 220 degrees, a time when tau at Oppy is typically getting up around 0.8 or 0.9. So unfortunately opacity will limit visibility of the tail and coma somewhat. On the other hand, Oppy won't be in the dead of winter and so may have power to do limited nighttime observations. I mention Oppy because her pancam L1 appears to be the fastest optical system on the ground. Of course if the comet gets insanely bright, opacity and optics won't matter so much...
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Mar 12 2013, 02:52 AM
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#3
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Member Group: Members Posts: 194 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 10 |
I wonder if it would be worth having Curiosity try to shoot a minute of 720P video near the zenith at the time of maximum local exposure to the coma. Success or failure to see bright enough meteors would be informative. It could be a unique look at a super meteor storm.
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