[meteorite-list] Possible that comet will hit mars next year!!!

From: Galactic Stone & Ironworks <meteoritemike_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2013 16:17:21 -0500
Message-ID: <CAKBPJW9w-XXgKPJJEbPfQ2Zz0PMQ7n5KQ9KvY9pmLHDE4CW41g_at_mail.gmail.com>

Break out the 100mm binoculars and get ready. Time to go comet chasin again.

I have about 5 or 6 under my belt, but I'll need darker skies this
time around. I'm now living on the outskirts of Tampa, and the light
pollution is pretty bad here. I'll need to drive about an hour north
of here and get out into boonies so I can catch some comets - when the
time comes. :)

Let's hope a 2013 comet puts on a big show like comet Holmes did.

Best regards,

MikeG

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On 2/27/13, Jodie Reynolds <spacerocks at spaceballoon.org> wrote:
> Hello Graham,
>
> With the current orbit from the MPC, my simulation has it missing Mars by a
> little
> over 700,000km, or about the same distance again from the MRO as MRO
> is from Mars at its furthest (according to what I've read of its
> altitude above the surface).
>
> Of course, I think everyone is anxiously awaiting every update as we
> get closer, to close the gap on uncertainty!
>
> I've yet to be able to dig up orbital elements for MRO.  By my
> simulation, HST will be on the other side of the planet from closest
> approach and its view will be occluded.  I'd love to figure out where
> MRO will be though - assuming that this first-blush ends-up being
> anywhere close to reality, and MRO is in position to train its
> instrumentation on C/2013 A1, and being the same distance from the
> comet that it is from Mars, the science could be
> _incredibly fortunate_, MRO "paying" for itself twice!
>
> --- Jodie
>
> Wednesday, February 27, 2013, 4:38:24 AM, you wrote:
>
>> Has anyone come across this yet...unlikely....but would be quite an
>> event?
>
>> Just got this message from my nephew at Oxford Uni...
>
>> "There is a (admittedly slight) chance that a recently discovered
>> comet, C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring), might be on a collision course with
>> Mars in October 2014. Latest observations certainly include an impact
>> possibility within the range of error.
>
>> If it hits, estimates suggest a 500km wide, 2km deep crater arising
>> from a ~20 Petaton event. That's something like 4 million times the
>> (estimated) explosive power of the current global nuclear arsenal.
>
>> Would be interesting to watch and see if any of the rovers on the
>> surface manage to survive such an impact (I would imagine only
>> possibly Curiosity but keeping lines of communication open with it
>> might prove difficult). Might make for (eventually, but not in our
>> lifetimes) some interesting future Martian meteorites."
>
>>
>> http://www.universetoday.com/100298/is-a-comet-on-a-collision-course-with-mars/
>
>> Graham
>> ______________________________________________
>
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>
>
>
> --
> Best regards,
>  Jodie                            mailto:spacerocks at spaceballoon.org
>
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Received on Wed 27 Feb 2013 04:17:21 PM PST