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"A recently discovered comet will make an uncomfortably close planetary flyby next year \u2014 but this time it\u2019s not Earth that\u2019s in the crosshairs.\nAccording to preliminary orbital prediction models, comet C/2013 A1 will buzz by Mars on Oct. 19, 2014. The icy interloper is thought to originate from the Oort Cloud \u2014 a hypothetical region surrounding the solar system containing countless billions of cometary nuclei that were outcast from the primordial solar system billions of years ago.\nWe know that comets have hit the planets before (re: the massive Comet Shoemaker\u2013Levy 9 that crashed into Jupiter in 1994), Mars in particular. It\u2019s also believed that Earth\u2019s oceans were created by water delivered by comets \u2014 cometary impacts are an inevitable part of living in this cosmic ecosystem.\nSEE ALSO: Weirdest Mars Craters in Photos\n\nC/2013 A1 was discovered by ace comet-hunter Robert McNaught at the Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales, Australia, on Jan. 3. When the discovery was made, astronomers at the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona looked back over their observations to find \u201Cprerecovery\u201D images of the comet dating back to Dec. 8, 2012. These observations placed the orbital trajectory of comet C/2013 A1 through Mars orbit on Oct. 19, 2014.\nCould the Red Planet be in for a potentially huge impact next year? Will Mars rovers Curiosity and Opportunity be in danger of becoming scrap metal?\nIt seems the likelihood of an awesome planetary impact is low \u2014 for now.\nSEE ALSO: Biggest Asteroid Strikes Ever\n\nAccording to NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) calculations, close approach data suggests the comet is most likely to make a close pass of 0.0007 AU (that\u2019s approximately 63,000 miles from the Martian surface). However, there\u2019s one huge caveat.\nDue to uncertainties in the observations \u2014 the comet has only been observed for 74 days (so far), so it\u2019s difficult for astronomers to forecast the comet\u2019s precise location in 20 months time \u2014 comet C/2013 A1 may fly past at a very safe distance of 0.008 AU (650,000 miles). But to the other extreme, its orbital pass could put Mars directly in its path. At time of Mars close approach (or impact), the comet will be barreling along at a breakneck speed of 35 miles per second (126,000 miles per hour).\nAlso, we don\u2019t yet know how big comet C/2013 A1 is, but comets typically aren\u2019t small. If it did hit, the impact could be a huge, global event. But the comet\u2019s likely location in 2014 is also highly uncertain, so this is by no means a \u201Csure thing\u201D for Mars impact (Curiosity, you can relax, for now).\nSEE ALSO: Mars Gets Hit By Cosmic Buckshot\n\nOne thing is looking likely, however. Mars could be in for its own \u201Ccometary spectacular.\u201D\nA flyby of that distance will mean that should C3/2013 A1 erupt with a tail and coma around its nucleus (as it becomes heated by solar radiation), our Mars rovers and orbiting armada of planetary observation satellites will have a very intimate view of this historic moment. It has the potential to be a more impressive sight than Comet ISON\u2019s inner-solar system trek later this year. But understanding the nature of comets is hard to predict; we won\u2019t know if the sun\u2019s heating will be sufficient enough for the comet nucleus to erupt and start out-gassing for some time to come.\nImage courtesy of NASA"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2013/02/25/comet-mars-2014/>