Last Sunday, 19th October, the comet named siding spring passed just about 87,000 miles away from mars. NASA’s Hubble space telescope was capable of gaining a composite image of the comment during its first time run, this close to the red planet.
The composite image is basically a combination of a few images including one taken on the morning of last Saturday, and late Sunday evening along with a separate image of mars from Saturday evening. This image successfully shows a white celestial body brushing past our neighbor planet mars. The details like the comets tail and coma re visible, but the image is not clear enough for the visibility of its nucleus.
The main reason for taking a composite image including a separate image of mars was that the planet is brighter than the comet, and hence it would be tough for us to view both the bodies clearly and brightly in one single shot. And also, since both parties were moving simultaneously, an attempt at taking a single image would’ve provided a blurred one, as opposed to the clear composite image.
NASA said that this image helps provide details not only of the comet, but also of mars. Due to this near meeting of these bodies, it is comparatively easier to make observations regarding the size of the tail of the comet and also the come, which are indeed quite big.
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