What the 'Comet of the Century' Might Look Like From Mars

This fanciful image shows what could end up being an incredible conjunction on Oct. 5, 2013, with the sun-grazing comet ISON in the night sky of Mars lining up quite close to the blue dot of our home planet.
Image may contain Nature Outdoors Universe Space Astronomy Outer Space Night and Comet
A hypothetical view of comet ISON and Earth in the Martian night sky.Starry Night/Stuart Atkinson

This fanciful image shows what could end up being an incredible conjunction on October 5, 2013, with the sun-grazing comet ISON in the night sky of Mars lining up quite close to the blue dot of our home planet.

It is an entirely hypothetical creation, courtesy of amateur astronomer and science writer Stuart Atkinson. While the image is based on real data and events it's less of a prediction and "more like, 'Wouldn't it be cool if it looked like this!'" Atkinson wrote in an e-mail.

Officially named C/2012 S1, Comet ISON was discovered in September and is currently visible only with a powerful telescope. Right now it's passing near Jupiter but, given its brightness at that distance, it has astronomers salivating at the prospect that it might grow into one of the brightest comets ever seen. Like all comets, ISON will sprout a massive tail as it nears the sun, potentially making it bright enough to see during the day. It will then skim through the sun's atmosphere in November and, if it emerges still intact, continue shining through December. This has led some to start calling it the "Comet of the Century."

A simulated image of comet ISON at it might appear at sunset on Mars in October.

NASA/Stuart Atkinson

As he explained in a blog posted January 13, Atkinson wondered what ISON would look like during its close encounter with Mars, a month or so ahead of its first flyby of Earth. Using the astronomical simulation program Starry Night and an Android app named Sky Safari, he estimated where the comet would appear in the sky as seen from Gale Crater, the landing spot of NASA's Curiosity rover. Other simulated images show the comet superimposed onto pictures of the Martian sunset from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers. The results gives a rough estimation for the comet's position in the Martian night sky.

But comet brightnesses are notoriously hard to predict before their tails appear. ISON could be the comet of the century or it could be a spectacular fizzle. Atkinson stressed that his images are just speculations based on him being very optimistic. Indeed, he made the "comet tail" using the Photoshop airbrush tool.

"These are just imaginary views, I’m not claiming these are accurate or anything," Atkinson wrote in his blog. "Unless they turn out to be accurate, in which case Ha! I TOLD you it would look like this!!!"

Whether or not Curiosity or its sister rover, Opportunity, will be able to turn their cameras skyward and capture ISON during its Mars flyby is also entirely unknown. The comet might not be bright enough or the rover's cameras might not be sensitive enough to capture it. NASA does not plan rover activities that far in advance so it's also not known whether or not the probes will be free to snap comet photos (of course, posts like Atkinson's and public urging might make them consider carving out some rover time for comet gazing).