At the time of its discovery comet siding spring was farther from the sun than jupiter about 7 2 times farther away from the sun than earth.
													
																	Comet siding spring update. 
									
	
		
	
																	Siding spring officially designated comet c 2013 a1 made its closest approach to mars at 2 28 p m. 
																	Mcnaught at siding spring observatory using the 0 5 meter 20 in uppsala southern schmidt telescope. 
																	Nasa s hubble space telescope has produced a unique composite image of comet siding spring as it made its never before seen close passage of a comet by mars. 
																	Comet siding spring whizzes past mars update by jenny vaughan. 
															
													
									
	
		
	
																	Hurtling through space at about 35 miles 56 kilometers per second comet siding spring c 2013 a1 will sweep very close to the planet mars today. 
																	The latest trajectory of comet 2013 a1 siding spring generated by the near earth object program office at nasa s jet propulsion laboratory in pasadena calif indicates the comet will pass within 186 000 miles 300 000 kilometers of mars and there is a strong possibility that it might pass much closer. 
																	Update october 18 2014. 
																	At the time of discovery it was 7 2 au from the sun and located in the constellation lepus comet c 2013 a1 probably took millions of years to come from the oort cloud. 
															
													
									
	
		
	
																	An illustration by nasa depicts the comet siding spring 2013 a1 traveling toward mars a comet the size of a small mountain and. 
																	Nasa s extensive fleet of science assets particularly those orbiting and roving mars have front row seats to image and study this once in a lifetime flyby. 
																	C 2013 a1 siding spring is an oort cloud comet discovered on 3 january 2013 by robert h. 
																	19 at a distance of approximately 87 000 miles.