Image of comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) at 4.8 arcminutes from Mars, as seen on 2014 October 19 at 20:20 UT via ESA’s Optical Ground Station, equipped with a 1-meter telescope, on Tenerife, Canary Islands. North is to the left of the frame. The comet was imaged under poor sky conditions, while it was 17° above the southwestern horizon. High humidity and strong winds also affected the image quality, giving a “fuzzy” appearance to the nearby stars.

Comet C/2013 A1 seen from ESA's Optical Ground Station, Teide Observatory, Tenerife, on 19 Oct 2014 at 20:19:46UT (23:19:46CEST). Credit: ESA/M. Micheli/D. Abreu

Comet C/2013 A1 seen from ESA’s Optical Ground Station, Teide Observatory, Tenerife, on 19 Oct 2014 at 20:19:46UT (22:19:46CEST). Credit: ESA/M. Micheli/D. Abreu

For anyone who didn’t find the comet in the full frame image above, here’s a cropped version with the comet marked!

Mars is, of course, much brighter than Siding Spring - here, it's marked in red. Credit: ESA/M. Micheli/D. Abreu

Mars is, of course, much brighter than Siding Spring – here, it’s marked in red. Credit: ESA/M. Micheli/D. Abreu