A comet that is surrounded by a cloud of dust is barreling toward Mars.

The comet, which is called Sliding Spring, is headed for Mars, but its projected trajectory is likely to miss Mars by 84,000 miles. The comet will not have much of an impact on Mars, but its dust might. Sliding Spring has a dust cloud surrounding it that measures over 12,000 miles, with particles moving at a velocity of 125,000 miles per hour, according to The Almagest.

The dust cloud could become even more active as the comet moves closer to sun and gets hotter.

The Hubble Space Telescope captured a photo of the comet as it hurtled through space. After the photo was processed, it revealed two streams of dust jutting off the comet in opposite directions.

Astronomers can use that information to investigate how the comet and its cloud of dust are moving, and how the dust cloud could affect Mars and the spacecraft orbiting Mars.

Dr. Jian-Yang Li from the Planetary Science Institute in Tuscan, Ariz. said, "This is critical information that we need to determine whether, and to what degree, dust grains in the coma of the comet will impact Mars and spacecraft in the vicinity of Mars."

Dr. Rich Zurek, chief scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. added, "Our plans for using spacecraft at Mars to observe comet Siding Spring will be coordinated with plans for how the orbiters will duck and cover, if we need to do that."

The team is therefore positioning the orbiters in a minimum proximity situation. Scientists are currently unsure how much of a threat Sliding Spring could pose to NASA's Mars orbiters, Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey.

The comet will make its closest pass to Earth's orbit on Oct. 19, when the view of Mars will be especially clear.