In 2014, comets attacked Mars

The newly discovered comet C / 2013A1 is likely to 'attack' Mars in October 2014.

Australian amateur astronomer Ian Musgrave said: 'Although the broom does not collide with Mars, we can see it quite well from the Earth'.

Comet C / 2013A1 was discovered in early 2013 by 'comet hunter' Robert McNaught of the Siding Spring Monitoring Center in New South Wales, Australia.

According to discussions on the IceInSpace amateur astronomers' forum, where the discovery was first published, researchers at Catalina Sky Research Center, Arizona, USA posted photos. 'before formation' of comets, taken on 8/12/2012. According to these observations, C / 2013A1 will fly straight to Mars on October 19, 2014.

A collision between a comet and Mars.

However, after 74 days of observation, comet expert Leonid Elenin said that according to the current calculations, comets will approach Mars at a distance of 109,200km in October 2014.

Ian O'Neill of the Space Discovery Center says that we have been observing comets for 74 days and therefore it is difficult to accurately predict the comet's orbit after another 20 months. According to him, the ability of comets 'and' to Mars at a rate of about 56,327m / s can still happen.

Elenin said, C / 2013 A1 is a hyperbolic-shaped comet, with orbiting orbit backwards, at a speed of about 56km / s.

Astronomers are eyeing this comet and they will quickly confirm their calculations as the data becomes more and more plentiful.