اردو
  • Comet the size of a small mountain whizzed past Mars

    A comet the size of a small mountain whizzed past Mars, dazzling space enthusiasts with the once-in-a-million-years encounter.

    The comet, known as Siding Spring (C/2013 A1), made its closest encounter with Mars on Sunday at 2:27 pm (1827 GMT), racing past the Red Planet at a breakneck 126,000 miles (203,000 kilometers) per hour. At its closest, Siding Spring was 87,000 miles (139,500 kilometers) from Mars about a third the distance between Earth and our moon. Before the comet passed, it could be seen in space racing toward the brightly illuminated Red Planet, trailed by a cloud of debris.  Scientists said the comet s passing offered a unique chance to study its impact on Mars s atmosphere.  "What could be more exciting than to have a whopper of an external influence like a comet, just so we can see how atmospheres do respond?" asked Nick Schneider, the remote sensing team leader from NASA s MAVEN mission to Mars. "It s a great learning opportunity." NASA s fleet of Mars-orbiting satellites and robots on the planet s surface were primed for the flyby of the comet, hoping to capture the rare event and collect a trove of data for Earthlings to study.  MAVEN, NASA s latest Mars orbiter, reported back to Earth in "good health" after spending about three hours ducking a possible collision with the comet s high-velocity dust particles, the US space agency said. "We re glad the spacecraft came through, we re excited to complete our observations of how the comet affects Mars, and we re eager to get to our primary science phase," said MAVEN principal investigator Bruce Jakosky. "Mars Odyssey hard at work now to image MarsComet Siding Spring, after closest approach & before dust tail hits," NASA said on Twitter, referring to one of its robotic spacecraft.