2013 Comet ISON: NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE Camera Captures Close Flyby of 'Comet of the Century' to Planet Mars

The High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on board NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) was able to capture the 2013 Comet ISON close flyby to planet Mars. The released images captured on Sunday, Sept. 29, show a blurry object at the center with the stars as background while the photos taken on Oct. 1 and 2 are currently getting processed.

2013 Comet ISON seen from Mars. Photo Credit: Tumblr/galaxyclusters

The MRO was controlled to focus interest at deep space instead of gazing at the Red Planet in order to capture a snapshot of the 2013 Comet ISON passing by. The "Comet of Century" currently makes its closest approach to Mars at a distance of 7 million miles from the surface.

Though the released images do not provide enough details on the still distant comet, the HiRISE researchers Alan Delamere and Alfred McEwen shared their observations that are helpful in determining how bright Comet ISON can be compared to the predicted values.

The observation in a news release reads: "Based on preliminary analysis of the data, the comet appears to be at the low end of the range of brightness predictions for the observation. As a result, the image isn't visually pleasing but low coma activity is best for constraining the size of the nucleus. This image has a scale of approximately 8 miles (13.3 km) per pixel, larger than the comet, but the size of the nucleus can be estimated based on the typical brightness of other comet nuclei. The comet, like Mars, is currently 241 million kilometers from the Sun. As the comet gets closer to the sun, its brightness will increase to Earth-based observers and the comet may also become intrinsically brighter as the stronger sunlight volatilizes the comet's ices."

After the close flyby to planet Mars, Comet ISON will become visible to the naked eye starting November 6 before its close flyby at 724,000 miles to the Sun on November 28. If the 2013 Comet ISON endures the intense heat of the Sun, it will then make its closes approach to planet Earth on Dec. 26.

More "Comet ISON" Articles to Read:

2013 Comet ISON: 'Comet of the Century' Making Close Approach to Planet Mars, Visibility to the Naked Eye Begins Nov. 6 [PHOTOS] - [READ]

2013 Comet ISON: Mars Spacecraft to Capture Images and Observe Comet's Red Planet Flyby on October 1 [PHOTOS] - [READ]