Fiercest meteor shower on record to hit Mars [merged]

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Fiercest meteor shower on record to hit Mars via comet

Comet ISON's visit to Earth was a bit of a disappointment – but next year Mars is getting a cometary visitor that looks like it will be anything but. Calculations suggest that the Red Planet's "comet of the century" will come closer to its surface than any comet has come to Earth's in recorded history – causing a meteor shower so epic that it may pose a danger to the spacecraft that orbit Mars.

Comet C/2013 A1, also known as comet Siding Spring after the observatory in New South Wales, Australia, where it was discovered, is due to cross Mars's orbit on 19 October 2014.

Read more...

[keithisco]

This could be something of a major upset to the satellites around MARS relaying data to Earth....

"Comet ISON's visit to Earth was a bit of a disappointment – but next year Mars is getting a cometary visitor that looks like it will be anything but. Calculations suggest that the Red Planet's "comet of the century" will come closer to its surface than any comet has come to Earth's in recorded history – causing a meteor shower so epic that it may pose a danger to the spacecraft that orbit Mars."

Read More (courtesy New Scientist): http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24715-fiercest-meteor-shower-on-record-to-hit-mars-via-comet.html

Must get me a decent telescope for this event!!