(LOS ANGELES TIMES) A speeding comet the size of a mountain will come within 87,000 miles of Mars on Oct. 19, and NASA is planning to observe it with just about everything the agency’s got.
In a news conference Thursday, officials described how they will use more than a dozen NASA assets including three Mars orbiters, two Mars rovers, and a suite of telescopes to see comet C/2013 A1, also known as comet Siding Spring, from several different angles and in different lights.
“Normally you send spacecraft to comets,” said Kelly Fast, a program scientist at NASA. “Here, the comet is coming to our spacecraft.”
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