TORONTO – The much-hyped “comet of the century” made a close fly-by of Mars on Sept. 29 and was photographed by a satellite orbiting the red planet.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which has been orbiting Mars since 2006, pointed its High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera at the icy comet and snapped a few photos.
The photos aren’t anything spectacular, as HiRISE was not meant for this type of imaging, but it provides an opportunity for scientists get a look at the comet that is set to grace our skies within the next month or so – if it survives its journey around the sun.
The patch of sky in the image is just 256 x 256 pixels and the comet is almost 13 million km away from the camera.
Comet ISON (officially known as C/2012 S1) is a comet that is believed to come from the Oort cloud, a collection of icy bodies left over from the formation of our solar system.
The comet will pass within 1.16 million km from the sun on Nov. 28. As it nears the sun, it will brighten, though how much is still unknown. Many are predicting that this will be the “comet of the century” while others believe that it is too early to tell or that ISON will fizzle or break apart once it nears the sun.
Read more: Research paper concludes that ISON may have fizzled out
MRO had been scheduled to take more images of the comet on Oct. 1 and 2, though due to the government shutdown, it is uncertain whether or not this was achieved.
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