This afternoon, Comet C/2013 A1 (AKA Comet Siding Spring) will pass within about 140,000 km of Mars. That’s less than half the distance between Earth and the Moon and less than one-tenth the distance of any known comet flyby of Earth. Siding Spring’s nucleus will come closest to Mars around 18:27 UTC (2:27 pm ET) moving at around 56 km/s.
Video Credit: NASA
This should be real interesting. You can follow it live on the SLOOH Community Observatory:
http://live.slooh.com/stadium/live/comet-siding-spring-swings-by-on-a-close-approach-to-mars
Too bad we didn’t get an impact on Mars. I guess we only get one a lifetime.
Another live link from the Virtual Telescope: