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Old 26-07-2014, 01:48 PM
deanm (Dean)
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Adelaide
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Mars & Comet Siding Spring encounter

A very close shave: on October 18/19, comet Siding Spring (C/2013 A1, discovered by our very own Rob McNaught) will pass Mars at a minuscule distance of ~130,000 km.

Mars & comet should be readily visible together in a single field of view.

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/comets/sidingspring/

The approach is so close that NASA/JPL/India are arranging for their Mars-orbiting spacecraft to be on the other side of the planet so as to gain some refuge from particulate damage!

Dean
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