19. Oktobra ove godine dogoditi će se izuzetno rijedak slučaj, blizak susret jedne planete i komete. Naime kometa imena Siding Spring (u prevodu Prišuljajuće Proljeće) C/2013 A1 će proći vrlo blizu planete Mars, na samo oko 139500 Km što je otprilike jedna trećina udaljenosti Zemlje od Mjeseca.
On October 19th a comet named Siding Spring (C/2013 A1) will approach very close to planet Mars. It will pass merely 139500 Km (86680 Miles) from the surface of that planet, that is a mere 1/3 of a distance measured from Earth to the Moon.
Događaji ove vrste su relativno rijetki i predstavljaju pravu priliku za istraživače. Komet je otkriven prije otprilike godinu dana sa australske opservatorije Siding Spring, po kojoj je komet i dobio ime. U početku otkriće je donijelo dosta uzbuđenja u krugovima astronoma planetologa jer su proračuni pokazivali da bi kometa mogla pasti na Mars. Međutim, kasnije kada se skupilo dovoljno podataka o kretanju ove komete proračuni su pokazali da od sudara nema ništa i da će komet proći tek jako blizu planete.
Events like this are rare and are a gold mine of data for all sorts of astronomers. Comet was discovered from Siding Spring observatory in Australia, about a year ago and immediately after its discovery it jolted the science community as preliminary calculation results showed that it might hit the planet (Mars). Later, when more data was available it was obvious that comet will just pass very near the planet and hype flattened a bit.
Ipak i pored određenog razočarenja u tim krugovima (što će biti uskraćeni za spektakl sudara svjetova) uzbuđenje oko ovog događaja je veliko. Naime postoji cijela flota svemirskih letjelica i robota oko planete Mars koje će iz bliza posmatrati ovaj događaj.
After initial "disappointment" it was immediately clear that this event is unique opportunity to observe the comet as it happens that we Earthlings have entire fleet of spacecrafts around the planet Mars and on surface robots, all of them awaiting for this event to unfold.
Ovo je lista te flote letjelica / This is a list of all those spacecrafts and robots:
NASA:
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Reconnaissance_Orbiter
2001 Mars Odyssey: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Mars_Odyssey
Nuclear-powered Rover Curiosity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curiosity_(rover)
Solar-powered Rover Opportunity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_(rover)
ESA:
Mars Express: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Express
ISRA (Indian space agency):
Što bi se desilo da se desilo / What would happen if it happened
Veličina jezgre ove komete je oko 700 m i ovo predstavlja dosta veliki komad leda i kamenja. Jezgra bi se raspala po ulasku u atmosferu ali bi ipak oslobodila dovoljno energije da napravi krater (rupu) 6 km široku. Eksplodirala bi snagom oko 2,6 miliona atomskih bombi bačenih na Hirošimu. Ovakav obijekat nema dovoljno energije da izazive globalno izumiranje kao kada su izumrli dinosaurusi ali ima dovoljno energije da uništi čitave države i stvori naglo zahladnjenje po svijetu zbog odbačene prašine u atmosferu, stvarajući efekat sličan nuklearnoj zimi koja bi trajala nekoliko godina.
The size of nucleus of this comet is estimated to be about 700 meters (about 2297 ft) which is a big chunk of ice and rock. If a chunk of this size ever enters in our atmosphere it would initially brake apart but still explode in a fireball with energy of 2.6 millions atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima. Comet of this size does not have enough energy to cause a global extinction like that one which wiped out dinosaurs but still will do a vast amount of damage, wiping out entire countries, making a crater 6 km wide (3.7 Miles) and reducing global temperature several degrees for few years, causing a similar effect as a nuclear winter.
Posljedice ovog prolaska po nas / The consequences of this event for us
Apsolutno nikakve. Nama na Zemlji se ništa ne može desiti. Mars je veoma daleko pa čak i da kometa padne na njega, kod nas na Zemlji se to ne bi ni primjetilo osim najvećim teleskopima. S druge strane sve svemirske letjelice oko Marsa su u opsnosti da budu oštećenje prašinom i komadićima meteorita koji otpadaju sa komete kako se ona približava Suncu i postaje sve aktivnija. Zbog toga, svemirske agencije (poput NASA-e) su odlučile da skrenu svoje aparate na pogodnije orbite tako da budu što manje pogođenje efektima prolaska ove komete.
Absolutely none. The effect on Earth will be non existent. Even if the comet hits the planet we wouldn't even notice it (except with most powerful telescopes). Mars is to far away to affect us in any way. On the other hand all our spacecrafts around mars are in danger to be damaged by dust and debris from passing comet. Because of that space agencies like NASA have decided to put all spacecrafts in more adequate orbits to reduce this kind of damage to minimum, even hiding behind planet Mars.
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