Late last year, word started spreading through the local astronomical community that an exciting event was coming up: An Oort cloud comet named C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) would be passing so close by Mars that there was a chance it might hit.  If it did, we on Earth would be treated to a spectacularly rare astronomical display of a comet slamming into a rocky planet.  The planetary science community were simultaneously excited about what they could learn from the resulting … Continue reading →