Accepted Cycle 16 Observing Proposals

SOLAR SYSTEM

Proposal Number	Subject Category	PI Name	Type	Time (ks)	Title
16100908	SOLAR SYSTEM	Lisse	GO	54	Chandra Observations of Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring)'s Encounter With Mars

Subject Category: SOLAR SYSTEM

Proposal Number: 16100908

Title: Chandra Observations of Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring)'s Encounter With Mars

Type: GO Total Time (ks): 54

PI Name: Carey Lisse

Abstract: Comet Siding Spring's extremely close approach to Mars (within 138,000 km, or 1/3 the Earth-Moon distance) on 19 Oct 2014 offers us the first opportunity in the Chandra era to study the interaction between the solar wind, a comet's extended atmosphere, and a planet's exosphere. Chandra will also be able to support the observations of the comet by the NASA and ESA Mars spacecraft as they study the comet during its close flyby. X-ray imagery, photometric lightcurves, and x-ray emission spectra obtained during the encounter will be compared to the Chandra comet database of 12 comets to determine the solar wind flux at Mars, the draping of the solar wind around the planet, and the input of comet gases into the Martian exosphere.

R.A.	Dec.	Target Name	Det.	Grating	Exp. Time (ks)
		Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring	ACIS-S	None	54.0

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