Comet Siding Spring causes an explosion on Mars (Video)

An incredible video, posted to YouTube on Oct. 19, shows the atmosphere of Mars exploding as the Comet Siding Spring passes within 87,000 miles of the Red Planet. Despite news reports indicating all NASA orbiters and ground rovers were unaffected by the debris trail of the comet, it's hard to believe there was no damage caused by the comet's passing after witnessing this dramatic video.




In it, a YouTube sky watcher, going by the name of BP Earth Watch, describes the fantastic sight of gases exploding in the Martian atmosphere, as the debris trail of Comet Siding Spring passes nearby on Sunday morning. The event was caught by Dr. Fritz Helmut Hemmerich, who recorded the action with a video telescope from his perch on Mount Teide, more than two miles above Tenerife, in the Canary Islands.

The location gives Dr. Hemmerich an unusually clear view of space in general, but, apparently, of Mars in particular, as no major news agency, or even NASA itself, has reported this story, or broadcast images of this dramatic explosion in the Martian atmosphere. A news report published by CNN on Oct. 20, leads with the headline, "Comet Siding Spring buzzes Mars, but NASA orbiters and rovers are safe".

However, the report does acknowledge it could be days, even weeks, before all data from the rovers and orbiters is fully analyzed. Until then, it's just a guessing game as to whether or not the satellites and ground rovers on and around Mars made it through the comet's passing without sustaining any major, debilitating damage.

The news comes as an unusually active news cycle centers on a number of anomalies found on Mars by amateur researchers, poring over thousands of NASA images taken by exploratory rovers and planetary orbiters, and published to a public website maintained by the space agency. Among the more provocative finds have been suggestions that animal life, or perhaps even humanoid life, have left evidence of their existence in the deep past of Mars.

Whether or not such claims can be proven remains to be seen, but there's no doubt that natural phenomenon, such as this explosion of the Martian atmosphere caused by a passing comet, will continue to thrill sky watchers and fuel the debate about life on Mars, or anywhere else in the universe, for a long time to come.

Source: Examiner.com