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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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 28 2013, 01:27 PM
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8785 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Don't confuse estimates based on constraints with actual measurements. The 50km upper limit was based on early albedo predictions; as the comet gets closer these will be refined based on observations.
In other words, the nucleus didn't shrink from 50km to 1-3km. -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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