Siding spring s nucleus will come closest to mars around 11 27 a m.
Comet siding spring view from mars.
In the still image comet siding spring is visible as a faint smear just above and to the right of the brightest streak.
Edt october 19 2014.
Comet siding spring flew about 87 000 miles from mars during the encounter.
19 comet c 2013 a1 also known as comet siding spring will pass within about 87 000 miles 139 500 kilometers of the red planet less than half the distance between earth and our moon and less than one tenth the distance of any known comet flyby of earth.
This composite hubble space telescope image captures the positions of comet siding spring and mars in a never before seen close passage of a comet by the red planet which happened at 2 28 p m.
Several other nasa instruments on mars and in space also imaged comet siding spring s mars flyby.
Several spacecraft from nasa europe and india were expected to track the comet s approach from their positions in orbit.
On that date the comet passed by mars at approximately 87 000 miles about one third the distance between earth and the moon.
Comet siding spring seen next to mars.