Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




IRON AND ICE
Hubble Space Telescope Spots Mars-Bound Comet Sprout Multiple Jets
by Staff Writers
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 28, 2014


The images above show -- before and after filtering -- comet C/2013 A1, also known as Siding Spring, as captured by Wide Field Camera 3 on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Image courtesy NASA, ESA, and J.-Y. Li Planetary Science Institute. For a larger version of this image please go here.

NASA released Thursday an image of a comet that, on Oct. 19, will pass within 84,000 miles of Mars -- less than half the distance between Earth and our moon.

The image on the left, captured March 11 by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, shows comet C/2013 A1, also called Siding Spring, at a distance of 353 million miles from Earth. Hubble can't see Siding Spring's icy nucleus because of its diminutive size. The nucleus is surrounded by a glowing dust cloud, or COMA, that measures roughly 12,000 miles across.

The right image shows the comet after image processing techniques were applied to remove the hazy glow of the coma revealing what appear to be two jets of dust coming off the location of the nucleus in opposite directions. This observation should allow astronomers to measure the direction of the nucleus's pole, and axis of rotation.

Hubble also observed Siding Spring on Jan. 21 as Earth was crossing its orbital plane, which is the path the comet takes as it orbits the sun. This positioning of the two bodies allowed astronomers to determine the speed of the dust coming off the nucleus.

"This is critical information that we need to determine whether, and to what degree, dust grains in the coma of the comet will impact Mars and spacecraft in the vicinity of Mars," said Jian-Yang Li of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona.

Discovered in January 2013 by Robert H. McNaught at Siding Spring Observatory, the comet is falling toward the sun along a roughly 1 million year orbit and is now within the radius of Jupiter's orbit.

The comet will make its closest approach to our sun on Oct. 25, at a distance of 130 million miles - well outside of Earth's orbit. The comet is not expected to become bright enough to be seen by the naked eye.

.


Related Links
Hubble
Asteroid and Comet Mission News, Science and Technology






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle




Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News





IRON AND ICE
Comet-probing robot to wake from hibernation
Paris (AFP) March 26, 2014
A fridge-sized robot lab hurtling through the Solar System aboard a European probe is about to wake from hibernation and prepare for the first-ever landing by a spacecraft on a comet. The delicate operation, starting Friday, marks the next phase in the European Space Agency's billion-dollar mission to explore one of these ancient wanderers of our star system. Sent to sleep in 2011 to sav ... read more


IRON AND ICE
Expeditions to the Moon: beware of meteorites

A Wet Moon

Unique camera from NASA's moon missions sold at auction

ASU camera creates stunning mosaic of moon's polar region

IRON AND ICE
Mars One building simulated colony to vet potential colonists

Mars-mimicking chamber explores habitability of other planets

Mars on Earth: vacuum chambers mimic the Red Planet

Helpful Wind Cleans Solar Panels On Opportunity Mars Rover

IRON AND ICE
The NASA Z-2 Spacesuit Design Vote

NASA Seeks Collaborative Partnerships With Commercial Space

You've got mail: Clinton-to-space laptop up for auction

E3-production - sustainable manufacturing

IRON AND ICE
Tiangong's New Mission

"Space Odyssey": China's aspiration in future space exploration

China to launch first "space shuttle bus" this year

China expects to launch cargo ship into space around 2016

IRON AND ICE
Technical hitch delays US-Russia crew's ISS docking

Russian spacecraft brings three-man crew to ISS after two-day delay

New ISS Crew Wrapping Up Training for Launch

How astronauts survive diplomatic tensions in space

IRON AND ICE
NASA Seeks Suborbital Flight Proposals

Arianespace Launches ASTRA 5B and Amazonas 4A

SpaceX Launch to the ISS Reset for March 30

Ariane 5 hardware arrives for next ATV mission

IRON AND ICE
Lick's Automated Planet Finder: First robotic telescope for planet hunters

Space Sunflower May Help Snap Pictures of Planets

NRL Researchers Detect Water Around a Hot Jupiter

UK joins the planet hunt with Europe's PLATO mission

IRON AND ICE
MIT engineers design 'living materials'

Unavoidable disorder used to build nanolaser

Pushing and pulling: Using strain to tune a new quantum material

Recovering valuable substances from wastewater




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.