On Friday NASA said a comet that flew by planet Mars last month released a strong meteor shower that changed the chemistry of the planet’s upper atmosphere for a short period. Siding Spring is the name of the comet and it came from a faraway region in the solar system known as Oort Cloud. The comet passed 87,000 miles from Mars on October 19 with a speed of 35 miles, or 56 km per second and it … [Read more...]
Comet Flies by Mars in Once-in-a-Lifetime Event
During an extremely rare fly-by, comet Siding Spring zoomed by Mars on October 19th in an event that scientists bill as being once-in-a-lifetime. The event could help astronomers better understand what occurred during the earliest days of our solar system. Siding Spring flew as close as 87,000 miles to the Martian surface at 2:27 PM EDT-approximately one third of the distance between Earth and … [Read more...]
