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Mars Orbiter's spectrometer shows Oort comet's coma

Date:
October 24, 2014
Source:
NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Summary:
The Compact Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) observed comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring as the comet sped close to Mars on Oct. 19. CRISM recorded imaging data in 107 different wavelengths, showing the inner part of the cloud of dust, called the coma, surrounding the comet's nucleus.
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The Compact Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) observed comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring as the comet sped close to Mars on Oct. 19. CRISM recorded imaging data in 107 different wavelengths, showing the inner part of the cloud of dust, called the coma, surrounding the comet's nucleus.

Two images from CRISM presenting three of the recorded wavelengths are online at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA15291

Comet Siding Spring -- an Oort Cloud comet that may contain material from the formation of the solar system some 4.6 billion years ago -- was making its first voyage through the inner solar system. CRISM and many other instruments and spacecraft combined forces to provide an unprecedented data set for an Oort Cloud comet.

The appearance of color variations in the CRISM observations of the inner coma could be due to the properties of the comet's dust, possibly dust grain size or composition. The full spectra will be analyzed to better understand the reason for the color variations.

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, provided and operates CRISM. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the orbiter.

For more about CRISM, visit: http://crism.jhuapl.edu/

For more about Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, visit: http://mars.nasa.gov/mro/

For more about comet Siding Spring, including other images of the comet, visit: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/comets/sidingspring/


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Materials provided by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Cite This Page:

NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "Mars Orbiter's spectrometer shows Oort comet's coma." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 24 October 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141024195411.htm>.
NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. (2014, October 24). Mars Orbiter's spectrometer shows Oort comet's coma. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 18, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141024195411.htm
NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "Mars Orbiter's spectrometer shows Oort comet's coma." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141024195411.htm (accessed March 18, 2024).

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