--- title: See A Comet's Close Encounter With Mars description: A comet flew past Mars this week and NASA captured the encounter canonical: https://time.com/3534714/mars-comet/ author: Adam Glanzman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-23T18:21:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:25.577Z article:section: Science og:title: See A Comet's Close Encounter With Mars og:description: A comet flew past Mars this week and NASA captured the encounter og:url: https://time.com/3534714/mars-comet/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25c144037badfe3a/6987627455a85902a2a8366c/comet_springs_0.jpg?branch=production&width=1167&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1167 og:image:height: 656 og:image:alt: This composite image captures the positions of comet 'Siding Spring' and Mars in a never-before-seen close passage of a comet by the Red Planet, on Oct. 19, 2014. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See A Comet's Close Encounter With Mars twitter:description: A comet flew past Mars this week and NASA captured the encounter twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25c144037badfe3a/6987627455a85902a2a8366c/comet_springs_0.jpg?branch=production&width=1167&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See a Comet's Close Encounter With Mars > Sponsored content. 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It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: See An Artist's Rendition Of Siding Spring's Encouter With Mars [Watch (HLS stream): See An Artist's Rendition Of Siding Spring's Encouter With Mars](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fVAswBXU.m3u8) (1:06)  _Published 2014-10-23. See an artist's rendition of the comet's encounter with Mars_ by [Adam Glanzman](https://time.com/author/adam-glanzman/) ## Adam Glanzman Oct 23, 2014 6:21 PM UTC  This composite image captures the positions of comet 'Siding Spring' and Mars in a never-before-seen close passage of a comet by the Red Planet, on Oct. 19, 2014. This composite image captures the positions of comet 'Siding Spring' and Mars in a never-before-seen close passage of a comet by the Red Planet, on Oct. 19, 2014. PSI/JHU/APL/STScI/AU/ESA/NASA by [Adam Glanzman](https://time.com/author/adam-glanzman/) ## Adam Glanzman Oct 23, 2014 6:21 PM UTC The comet known as “Siding Spring” had a too-close-for-comfort encounter with the Red Planet this week. Traveling at around 125,000mph, the comet missed colliding with Mars by a mere 87,000 miles. That’s about one-third of the distance between the Earth and the Moon — in astronomical terms, a very close encounter. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured the encounter in this composite image. Sadly, it will be another million years before we see comet Siding Spring again, after it completes its orbit around the sun. 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