A recently discovered comet has whizzed past Mars, giving scientists a unique chance to study an object from the farthest reaches of the Solar System.
The comet, known as Siding Spring, raced past Mars at 56km per second missing it by 139,500 km.
An artist's concept illustration provided by NASA depicts the Comet Siding Spring and Mars. Photo: HO / NASA / AFP
Rovers on the Martian surface and satellites were primed to catch the event on their cameras and instruments, the BBC reports.
Siding Spring comes from the Oort Cloud - a spherical region of space far beyond the planets.
Researchers believe the comet is very little altered from the time of its formation more than 4.5 billion years ago.
The icy core, or nucleus, of the comet, also known as C/2013 A1, is only about 1,000 metres wide.
Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was primed try to picture it and resolve its shape - something that has never been done before for an Oort Cloud visitor.
Other satellites studied its gas and dust shroud, known as the coma, and the material trailing away from its tail.
Specifically, they wanted to examine any interactions with the Martian atmosphere.
This is likely to have heated up ever so slightly as material from the comet fell on it. Instruments should also have detected some transient chemical changes, perhaps even some circulation changes.
The comet was first identified by Robert McNaught in January 2013 while using the Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope at the Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia. It is this association that gives C/2013 A1 its common name.
