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MLA Full: | "A New Comet's Very, Very Near Miss." YouTube, uploaded by , 16 October 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j3CvlvYi9Q. |
MLA Inline: | (, 2014) |
APA Full: | . (2014, October 16). A New Comet's Very, Very Near Miss [Video]. YouTube. https://youtube.com/watch?v=-j3CvlvYi9Q |
APA Inline: | (, 2014) |
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, "A New Comet's Very, Very Near Miss.", October 16, 2014, YouTube, 04:10, https://youtube.com/watch?v=-j3CvlvYi9Q. |
This week, a new comet will make its first visit to the inner Solar System, just barely missing Mars (we hope). SciShow Space News takes you there!
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Sources:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/comets/sidingspring/
http://blogs.esa.int/mex/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2013_A1
----------
Like SciShow? Want to help support us, and also get things to put on your walls, cover your torso and hold your liquids? Check out our awesome products over at DFTBA Records: http://dftba.com/artist/52/SciShow
Or help support us by subscribing to our page on Subbable: https://subbable.com/scishow
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Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet?
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Thanks Tank Tumblr: http://thankstank.tumblr.com
Sources:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/comets/sidingspring/
http://blogs.esa.int/mex/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2013_A1
This week, space agencies around the world will have a historic opportunity to watch a comet make its first visit to the inner solar system.
(0:07) It will also be the closest look we've ever gotten at one of these brand new comets.
(0:11) On October 19th, comet C/2013 A1, also known by the classy sounding nick-name of Siding Spring, will pass within about 140,000 km of Mars.
(0:20) That's just 1/3 of the distance between us and the Moon, and less than 1/10 as far as the closest known comet flyby of Earth.
(0:26) Conveniently enough, we have a ton of spacecraft on and around Mars that are going to be right there when Siding Spring passes - ready to make the most of it.
(00:33) But first we have to make sure they all survive the encounter.
(Intro)
(0:40) Astronomer Robert McNaught discovered comet C/2013 A1 at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia on January 3rd, 2013. Hence, the name.
(0:48) Judging by its trajectory the comet hails from the distant reaches of the Oort cloud; a remote region surrounding our solar system that's about 100,000 times farther from us than the sun.
(0:56) Hurdling toward our neighborhood at 56 km/sec, Siding Spring has taken at least a million years to make it this far,
(1:02) and for a while it looked like its journey might be coming to an abrupt and messy end.
(1:06) At first, astronomers that Siding Spring was going to make a direct impact with Mars, a planet that we are heavily invested in,
(1:12) but in recent months they've determined that the comet will miss the planet, but just barely.
(1:16) Specifically the comet's nucleus, a small chunk of rock and ice between about one and eight kilometers wide, will likely pass Mars right by.
(1:22) But that may not be the case for the coma - the tail of gas and dust that the comet gives off as it approaches the sun.
(1:27) But it's just dust, right?
(1:30) Well, even a single particle a few millimeters wide can damage a spacecraft if it's traveling at 56 km/sec.
(1:36) To give you a sense of how fat that is, the speed of sound at Earth's sea level is about 1/3 of a kilometer per second.
(1:43) Plus Siding Spring's coma is enormous - 160,000 km wide and 480,000 km long.
(1:49) So even though we have a pretty good sense of where the comet's nucleus is going to go, the coma is much less predictable.
(1:54) As Canadian astronomer David Levy once said,
(1:56) "Comets are like cats: they have tails, and they do precisely what they want."
(2:00) Which is adorable, but still we have a lot of really important stuff laying around Mars right now that we'd very much not like to be destroyed by some sassy comet swinging its tail.
(2:09) Like ESA's Mars Express for example, and NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the Mars Odyssey.
All in orbit right around the red planet.
(2:16) Then there's India's Mars Orbiter Mission and NASA's Maven, both of which just arrived in orbit a few weeks ago.
(2:21) Not to mention NASA's two remaining robots that are still active on the ground - Curiosity and Opportunity.
(2:26) Fortunately, astronomers think Mars's atmosphere, though much thinner than Earth's, is still thick enough to slow and burn up any dust particles, which will help protect the rovers.
(2:34) But to protect the orbiters, space agencies are sending them behind Mars while the coma is expected to be closest about 90 minutes after the nucleus passes.
(2:42) So once everyone has put their hardware out of harms way, they can think about how best to use that hardware.
(2:46) and make the most of this historic encounter.
(2:49) After all according to NASA, we may never again be this close to a comet fresh from the Oort Cloud.
(2:53) Comets carve enormous elliptical orbits through the solar system, and essentially start to melt as they approach the sun.
(2:59) After a hundred orbits or so, many comets eventually disintegrate.
(3:02) But new comets keep showing up, and astronomers think they originate in the Oort cloud. A sort of fluffy, icy nimbus of material left over from when the solar system first formed.
(3:10) And since this seems to be Siding Spring's first time out of the cloud, that means it's never before been exposed to the Sun's heat and radiation.
(3:16) So the chance to observe something that's never been close to the Sun is a chance to study an object that has stayed pretty much unchanged since the birth of the solar system some 4.6 billion years ago.
(3:25) If we happen to find important life-giving materials on or around Siding Spring like water or carbon compounds, that would mean that these things were present early in our solar system's history.
(3:34) So dozens of instruments in the metro-mars area will be trained on the comet looking for these materials and compiling data about the overall makeup of this amazing celestial relic.
(3:42) What could be more in your face than that?
(3:44) Well don't forget the Rosetta spacecraft is going to send a lander to the surface of its target comet in just a couple of weeks.
(3:49) So if you want to make sure you get the latest from these events and all kinds of goings-ons around the universe, check out subable.com/scishow to learn how you can help support us.
And don't forget to go to youtube.com/scishowspace and subscribe.
(0:07) It will also be the closest look we've ever gotten at one of these brand new comets.
(0:11) On October 19th, comet C/2013 A1, also known by the classy sounding nick-name of Siding Spring, will pass within about 140,000 km of Mars.
(0:20) That's just 1/3 of the distance between us and the Moon, and less than 1/10 as far as the closest known comet flyby of Earth.
(0:26) Conveniently enough, we have a ton of spacecraft on and around Mars that are going to be right there when Siding Spring passes - ready to make the most of it.
(00:33) But first we have to make sure they all survive the encounter.
(Intro)
(0:40) Astronomer Robert McNaught discovered comet C/2013 A1 at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia on January 3rd, 2013. Hence, the name.
(0:48) Judging by its trajectory the comet hails from the distant reaches of the Oort cloud; a remote region surrounding our solar system that's about 100,000 times farther from us than the sun.
(0:56) Hurdling toward our neighborhood at 56 km/sec, Siding Spring has taken at least a million years to make it this far,
(1:02) and for a while it looked like its journey might be coming to an abrupt and messy end.
(1:06) At first, astronomers that Siding Spring was going to make a direct impact with Mars, a planet that we are heavily invested in,
(1:12) but in recent months they've determined that the comet will miss the planet, but just barely.
(1:16) Specifically the comet's nucleus, a small chunk of rock and ice between about one and eight kilometers wide, will likely pass Mars right by.
(1:22) But that may not be the case for the coma - the tail of gas and dust that the comet gives off as it approaches the sun.
(1:27) But it's just dust, right?
(1:30) Well, even a single particle a few millimeters wide can damage a spacecraft if it's traveling at 56 km/sec.
(1:36) To give you a sense of how fat that is, the speed of sound at Earth's sea level is about 1/3 of a kilometer per second.
(1:43) Plus Siding Spring's coma is enormous - 160,000 km wide and 480,000 km long.
(1:49) So even though we have a pretty good sense of where the comet's nucleus is going to go, the coma is much less predictable.
(1:54) As Canadian astronomer David Levy once said,
(1:56) "Comets are like cats: they have tails, and they do precisely what they want."
(2:00) Which is adorable, but still we have a lot of really important stuff laying around Mars right now that we'd very much not like to be destroyed by some sassy comet swinging its tail.
(2:09) Like ESA's Mars Express for example, and NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the Mars Odyssey.
All in orbit right around the red planet.
(2:16) Then there's India's Mars Orbiter Mission and NASA's Maven, both of which just arrived in orbit a few weeks ago.
(2:21) Not to mention NASA's two remaining robots that are still active on the ground - Curiosity and Opportunity.
(2:26) Fortunately, astronomers think Mars's atmosphere, though much thinner than Earth's, is still thick enough to slow and burn up any dust particles, which will help protect the rovers.
(2:34) But to protect the orbiters, space agencies are sending them behind Mars while the coma is expected to be closest about 90 minutes after the nucleus passes.
(2:42) So once everyone has put their hardware out of harms way, they can think about how best to use that hardware.
(2:46) and make the most of this historic encounter.
(2:49) After all according to NASA, we may never again be this close to a comet fresh from the Oort Cloud.
(2:53) Comets carve enormous elliptical orbits through the solar system, and essentially start to melt as they approach the sun.
(2:59) After a hundred orbits or so, many comets eventually disintegrate.
(3:02) But new comets keep showing up, and astronomers think they originate in the Oort cloud. A sort of fluffy, icy nimbus of material left over from when the solar system first formed.
(3:10) And since this seems to be Siding Spring's first time out of the cloud, that means it's never before been exposed to the Sun's heat and radiation.
(3:16) So the chance to observe something that's never been close to the Sun is a chance to study an object that has stayed pretty much unchanged since the birth of the solar system some 4.6 billion years ago.
(3:25) If we happen to find important life-giving materials on or around Siding Spring like water or carbon compounds, that would mean that these things were present early in our solar system's history.
(3:34) So dozens of instruments in the metro-mars area will be trained on the comet looking for these materials and compiling data about the overall makeup of this amazing celestial relic.
(3:42) What could be more in your face than that?
(3:44) Well don't forget the Rosetta spacecraft is going to send a lander to the surface of its target comet in just a couple of weeks.
(3:49) So if you want to make sure you get the latest from these events and all kinds of goings-ons around the universe, check out subable.com/scishow to learn how you can help support us.
And don't forget to go to youtube.com/scishowspace and subscribe.