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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Apr 26 2013, 05:13 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 198 Joined: 2-March 05 From: Richmond, VA USA Member No.: 181 |
I was tinkering in the iPad app Luminos with C/2013A1 as it passes by Mars next year using the most ephem., and though I'd pass on the viewing info I put together (at this early date) for MSL:
Comet C/2013 A1 rises on MSL sol 738 at 17:25:58 LT (20:21:39 UTC 19Oct14) at Gale Crater while it is 72,784 km away (from Gale). [Az: 112D 12M 33.1S, Alt: -0D 0M 35.8S] This will likely be behind Mt. Sharp from Curiosity's perspective. The sun at comet rise is 0D 56M 35.0S above the horizon (Az: 255D 2M 20.0S), preparing to set at 17:35 LT (20:31 UTC) Closest Aproach to Gale Crater occurs at 17:28:54 LT (20:24:39 UTC) at 72,092 km away [Az: 110D 32M 42.6S, Alt: 8D 27M 28.2S] Luminos calculates the apparant brightness at about -10.5 (FWIW) The apparent motion since rising to this point has on average been: Az: 0.555D/min, 0.009D/sec; Alt: 2.816D/min, 0.047D/sec; The comet will be traveling across the sky at 0.048D/sec, covering the average angular diameter of the moon (0.528D) as seen from earth in 11 seconds (all times for motion here using earth clock). One hour (Local Time) after sunset, 18:35 LT (21:32:34 UTC), the comet will be at Az: 331D 16M 12.1S, Alt:81D 47M 16.2S and 239,340 km away from Gale. Luminos calculates the apparant brightness at about -7.0 (again, FWIW. I do not know how Luminos calculated apparent mag.) -- Pertinax |
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