Mars Comet Encounter Observations, C/2013 A1 Siding Spring, 19 Oct 2014 Options

[JohnVV]

some sim images
Comet rise then set for Curiosity
rise at about 14:20 UT , then set will be at about 22:30

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/10269590...901291398562941
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/10269590...901291398562941

for Opportunity
Comet rise as of a few min. ago 20:25 and it will set at about 7:00 UT Oct.20

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/10269590...901291398562941
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/10269590...901291398562941
image folder
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/10269590...078138374025457

[Deimos]

Using the new HiRise-based solution 101 at Horizons, I got ~1/3 of the way from Pi Cet toward Tau1 Eri as a presumed location.

[fredk]

Yeah, that agrees with Joe's coordinates. I've circled the location with a large circle here:

(Circle position drawn for pancam image, not star map, which is offset.)
Nothing obvious there...

[James Sorenson]

Just before sunrise, taken around 4:20 AM on Sol782 in an attempt to capture Comet Siding Spring.



EDIT (10/22/2014): I updated the mosaic to further remove the noise in the scene.

[vikingmars]

Just before sunrise, taken around 4:20 AM on Sol782 in an attempt to capture Comet Siding Spring.

Thanks James for this very nice mosaic.
Definitely, early morning pictures are worth to see.
They sould be taken more oftenly by MSSS and JPL (with their NavCams) for us to help build spectacular panoramic pictures for EPO...

[vikingmars]

Here is comet Siding-Spring spotted by the Opportunity rover in the Martian sky ! (pictures are just de-noised) :
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...0HP2665L1M1.JPG

Enjoy !

[Adam Hurcewicz]

Here is comet Siding-Spring spotted by the Opportunity rover in the Martian sky ! (pictures are just de-noised) : Enjoy !

Great ! What time of capture is it ?

[jmknapp]

Capture time based on et in the filename is 2014OCT19 16:14:24 UT.

The local time was about 3am. The comet was at maximum elevation (60 degrees), range about 400,000 km. Closest approach (~140,000 km) was a couple hours later, after the comet had set. So this perhaps was the best chance and they nailed it.

[Gerald]

An attempt to enhance the Siding Springs comet in the Oppy image:

Edit: This image fuses comet enhancement and star enhancement into one false-color image (comet reddish, stars bluish) :

[Guest_alex_k_*]

An attempt to extremely enlarge the comet.

[fredk]

The structure you're seeing in that extreme zoom is almost entirely jpeg and other noise...

Here's my best shot at the longer exposure. Bandpass up to 4 pix and down to 100 pix, with horizontal stripe suppression, followed by a linear stretch trying not to loose information:

You can see pretty clearly (especially by comparing to the shorter exposure) that the comet's motion during the exposure is at a different speed and direction than the stars in the field - that's the sign of a very close comet!

[neo56]

My take at the MC34 mosaic taken at dawn. Noise was removed manually with GIMP for the surface (it was quite a long work) and with a filter for the sky.

[fredk]

Here's a similar treatment (bandpass, stretch) on one of the MSL navcam frames. The pointing is not correct yet (the three navcam frames show the same pointing), so I don't know if this was meant to image SS or not (actually I think SS would have been higher than this frame shows). Nevertheless I'll post it in this thread. It shows some clouds near the horizon:

[Guest_alex_k_*]

The structure you're seeing in that extreme zoom is almost entirely jpeg and other noise...

I experiment with a very special kind of Fourier processing. It's interesting. can it be used for hyperresolution purposes. The results are uncertain.

[fredk]

Illustrating my point about the different motions of SS and the stars, a flicker gif between the two (similarly processed) frames.

You can see the 4 or 5 stars rising in the east, but SS moving to the left (north) relative to the stars. This agrees with the SS path for Oppy's sky from Joe.

The tau rose up to 1.24 on 3817 according to the Oppy weather site.