Sun view of Comet Siding Spring and the Mars orbiting fleet
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- Visualizations by:
- Greg Shirah
- View full credits
This visualization shows active spacecraft orbiting Mars and their relationship to Comet Siding Spring. The comet passes very close to Mars on October 19, 2014. The camera is looking from the direction of the Sun towards Mars. The camera is fixed to Mars and the orbit trail of Mars goes off to the right.
As Comet Siding-Spring makes its way through the Martian neighborhood it reaches the closest distance at about 18:32 UT. Debris left by the comet follows behind the comet on the line representing where the comet was. This derbis impacts Mars at about 20:08 UT. Scientists and engineers are concerned that the derbis may harm the spacecraft. Several of the spacecraft have executed orbital maneuvers to put them on the opposite side of Mars when the debris impacts.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
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Animators
- Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC) [Lead]
- Ernie Wright (USRA)
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Scientists
- Bruce Jakosky (LASP)
- David Folta (NASA/GSFC)
- Kelly Fast (NASA/HQ)
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Producer
- Dan Gallagher (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
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Project support
- Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
- Laurence Schuler (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Datasets used in this visualization
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DE421 (JPL DE421)
ID: 752Planetary ephemerides
This dataset can be found at: http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?ephemerides#planets
See all pages that use this dataset -
GSFC Flight Dynamics Facility Ephemeris
ID: 812
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.
Related Pages
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ID: 11716 Produced Video
Instagram: Comet Siding Spring
Read moreOn October 19, Comet Siding Spring will pass within 88,000 miles of Mars – just one third of the distance from the Earth to the Moon! Traveling at 33 miles per second and weighing as much as a small mountain, the comet hails from the outer fringes of our solar system, originating in a region of icy debris known as the Oort cloud.Comets from the Oort cloud are both ancient and rare. Since this is Comet Siding Spring’s first trip through the inner solar system, scientists are excited to learn more about its composition and the effects of its gas and dust on the Mars upper atmosphere.NASA will be watching closely before, during, and after the flyby with its entire fleet of Mars orbiters and rovers, along with the Hubble Space Telescope and dozens of instruments on Earth. The encounter is certain to teach us more about Oort cloud comets, the Martian atmosphere, and the solar system’s earliest ingredients. ||
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ID: 11714 Produced Video
Observing Comet Siding Spring at Mars
Read moreOn October 19, 2014, Comet Siding Spring will make a remarkably close encounter with Mars, buzzing the Red Planet at just one third of the Earth-Moon distance. To witness this historic event, NASA has mobilized an entire fleet of rovers, orbiters, Earth observatories and space telescopes.For complete transcript, click here.Watch this video on the NASAexplorer YouTube channel. || Comet_SS_from_Mars.png (1920x1080) [2.4 MB] || Comet_SS_from_Mars_thm.png (80x40) [7.3 KB] || Comet_SS_from_Mars_web.png (320x180) [70.0 KB] || Comet_SS_from_Mars_searchweb.png (320x180) [70.0 KB] || G2014-091_Comet_SS_MASTER_H264.mov (1920x1080) [2.4 GB] || G2014-091_Comet_SS_MASTER_appletv_subtitles.m4v (960x540) [75.9 MB] || G2014-091_Comet_SS_MASTER_appletv.webm (960x540) [20.4 MB] || G2014-091_Comet_SS_MASTER_appletv.m4v (960x540) [75.9 MB] || G2014-091_Comet_SS_MASTER_1280x720.wmv (1280x720) [87.6 MB] || G2014-091_Comet_SS_MASTER_prores.mov (1280x720) [2.5 GB] || G2014-091_Comet_SS_MASTER_youtube_hq.mov (1920x1080) [230.1 MB] || G2014-091_Comet_SS_MASTER.mov (1920x1080) [7.6 GB] || G2014-091_Comet_SS_MASTER_ipod_lg.m4v (640x360) [30.2 MB] || G2014-091_Comet_SS_MASTER_youtube_hq.en_US.srt [2.8 KB] || G2014-091_Comet_SS_MASTER_youtube_hq.en_US.vtt [2.9 KB] || G2014-091_Comet_SS_MASTER_nasaportal.mov (640x360) [74.4 MB] || G2014-091_Comet_SS_MASTER_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [16.3 MB] ||
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ID: 11706 Produced Video
Comet Siding Spring: Live Shots 2014
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ID: 20215 Animation
Comet Siding Spring and Mars
Read moreNASA's MAVEN spacecraft observes Comet Siding Spring during its encounter with Mars. || Comet_Passing_Mars_0072000702_print.jpg (1024x576) [65.5 KB] || Comet_Passing_Mars_00720_print.jpg (1024x576) [78.4 KB] || Comet_Passing_Mars_00720_searchweb.png (320x180) [56.8 KB] || Comet_Passing_Mars_00720_web.png (320x180) [56.8 KB] || Comet_Passing_Mars_00720_thm.png (80x40) [4.2 KB] || Comet_Passing_Mars_FINAL.mov (1920x1080) [1004.7 MB] || Comet_Passing_Mars_h264_FINAL.mov (1920x1080) [34.4 MB] || Comet_Passing_Mars_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [13.7 MB] || frames/1920x1080_16x9_60p/CometPassing/ (1920x1080) [128.0 KB] || Comet_Passing_Mars_1080.webm (960x540) [2.1 MB] ||
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