Comet To Make Close Call With Mars

sciencehabit writes In mid-October, a comet sweeping through our inner solar system for the first time will pass near Mars—so close, in fact, that if it were buzzing Earth at the same distance it would fly by well inside our moon's orbit. While material spewing from the icy visitor probably won't trigger the colossal meteor showers on the Red Planet that some scientists predicted, dust and water vapor may still slam into Mars, briefly heating up its atmosphere and threatening orbiting spacecraft. However it affects the planet, the comet should give scientists their closest view yet of a near-pristine visitor from the outer edges of our solar system.

Comments

Re:First pass

[tonique]

The theory is that there's a big (really big) store of comets in Oort's cloud on the far outskirts of the solar system. They have never been near to the Sun having been formed far from the centre. Once their movements are perturbed they may go towards the Sun.

It really may be the first pass ever.

Re:First pass

[CreatureComfort]

"Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space."

\ RIP DNA - We miss you.