== RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE / MANDATORY CREDIT: "AFP PHOTO / HANDOUT / NASA "/ NO MARKETING / NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS / NO A LA CARTE SALES / DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS ==
This artist's concept illustration provided October 14, 2014 by NASA depicts the Comet Siding Spring (2013 A1) and Mars. On October 19, Comet Sliding Spring, a comet that has travelled many billions of miles, will come within about 87,000 miles of Mars, about one-third of the distance of the Moon from Earth. Comet Siding Spring comes from the Oort Cloud, material left over from the formation of the solar system. Oort Cloud material, including comets, is scattered through a vast region that begins outside the orbits of Neptune and Pluto and extends a substantial fraction of the distance to Proxima Centauri, the closest neighboring star. Oort Cloud comets can tell scientists about the materials - including water and carbon compounds - that existed during the formation of the solar system some 4.6 billion years ago. AFP PHOTO / HANDOUT / NASA == RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE / MANDATORY CREDIT: "AFP PHOTO / HANDOUT / NASA "/ NO MARKETING / NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS / NO A LA CARTE SALES / DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS ==