According to NASA, there is a chance that the newly discovered comet, Comet 2013 A1 (Siding Spring), could strike the planet Mars on 19 October 2014. Original estimates of trajectory of the comet generated by the Near-Earth Object (NEO) Program Office at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena indicated that the comet would pass within 186,000 miles (300,000 kilometers) of Mars. However, the latest trajectory estmates now have it passing about 31,000 miles (50,000 kilometers) from the Red Planet’s surface and NASA does not rule out the possibility of a strike. Rob McNaught discovered this new comet on 3 Jan 2013, at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia.
Computer generated trajectory of Comet 2013 A1 (Siding Spring) Courtesy: NASA/JPL Caltech
