Astroblog: Live Webcasts of the comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring Encounter with Mars October 19.

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Live Webcasts of the comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring Encounter with Mars October 19.

Simulated in Celestia: Mars and comet C/2013 Siding Spring on October 19, at 18:51 UT when the comet is 138,800 Km from Mars. From Earth they will be a mere 1' 51" apart (that's one arc minute 53 arc seconds, about the width of a human hair).

If you are clouded out on the night of closest approach, there are a number of live webcasts of the event on the early evening of the 19th. You will see a fuzzy blob and a bright bob, but this is a scpecial occasion, so there wll be a lot of interesting discussion.

There is a Google Hangout in Australia. 11:00 UT (around 10 pm AEDST)
https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/c37ac7ps3n0va5j6tibeblnkpfc

Sunday, October 19 at 6:45pm in UTC+02

http://www.astrowebtv.org

Live webcast from Slooh
http://www.space.com/19195-night-sky-planets-asteroids-webcasts.html

A much bigger list, including NASA and ESA, borrowed from Yasser Mohammed
here.

1) NASA :
http://mars.nasa.gov/comets/sidingspring/
http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/comet-siding-spring/
http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/october/nasa-prepares-its-science-fleet-for-oct-19-mars-comet-encounter/#.VEH5JPmSwxU

2) Slooh Observatory :
The Slooh Community Observatory will broadcast a double feature about Comet Siding Spring's close pass by Mars on Sunday (Oct. 19). The first Slooh webcast will start at 2:15 p.m. EDT (1815 GMT), and the second will begin at 8:30 p.m. EDT (0030 Oct. 20 GMT)
http://live.slooh.com/stadium/live/comet-siding-spring-swings-by-on-a-close-approach-to-mars

3) Virtual Telescope :
The Virtual Telescope Project will host a webcast on Oct. 19 starting at 12:45 p.m. EDT (16:45 GMT)
http://www.virtualtelescope.eu/2014/10/09/comet-planet-comet-c2013-a1-siding-spring-meets-planet-mars-19-oct-2014-online-event/
4) Europe Space Agency :
ESA Livestream with lots of experts ( starts at 10:50 PT / 17:50 UT)
http://www.livestream.com/eurospaceagency
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Operations/Mars_Express_ready_for_comet_encounter

5) Telescope from Australia :
Amateur astronomer Peter Lake, will broadcast from the iTelescope.net Observatory (Q62) at Siding Spring, though closest approach won't be visible from Australia (broadcast starts at 03:00 PT / 11:00 UT)
http://www.itelescope.net/
https://www.facebook.com/events/679638335464865/?ref=4

6) Living Maths live feeds from South Africa :
Mr S will be interviewing NASA Astronomers and local Astronomers about the Comet that is currently making an appearance. We will talk about chasing comets and even catching them. The Hangout will last 1 hour and afterwards we will take out the telescopes and explore the stars outside. This should be an evening you won’t forget. The event will be streamed live on the Living Maths website at 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm
http://www.livingmaths.com/event/nasa-interview-19-october/
https://www.facebook.com/events/649993841786622/?ref=4

Labels: C/2013 A1 Siding Spring, public outreach