First Resolved Image of a Long-Period Comet's Nucleus
These images were taken of comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Oct. 19, 2014, during the comet's close flyby of Mars and the spacecraft.

NASA will host a media teleconference at 9 a.m. PST (noon EST) on Friday, Nov. 7, to provide initial science observations of comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring's close flyby of Mars and the impact on the Martian atmosphere.

NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), and a radar instrument aboard the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft provided the first close-up studies of the comet that originated from the distant, outer reaches of our solar system.

Briefing participants include:

* Jim Green, director, Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington

* Nick Schneider, instrument lead for MAVEN's Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph, University of Colorado, Boulder

* Mehdi Benna, instrument scientist for MAVEN's Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

* Don Gurnett, lead investigator on the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding instrument on Mars Express, University of Iowa, Iowa City

* Alan Delamere, co-investigator for MRO's HiRISE instrument, Delamere Support Services, Boulder, Colorado

Visuals will be posted at the start of the event at:

http://www.nasa.gov/mars/telecon

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live at:

http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

The event will also be streamed, with visuals used by the participants, at:

http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

For more information about Comet Siding Spring, visit:

http://mars.nasa.gov/comets/sidingspring

2014-381b

Preston Dyches/Guy Webster
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-7013/818-354-5011
preston.dyches@jpl.nasa.gov/guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Nancy Neal Jones/Elizabeth Zubritsky
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-0039/301-614-5438
nancy.n.jones@nasa.gov/elizabeth.a.zubritsky@nasa.gov

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