October 16, 2013

Contacts: Patrick Paolucci [email protected] 877-427-5664 x3

Slooh to Cover ISON’s close approach to Mars – Comet ISON Meets Mars

Slooh will broadcast live streaming images of Comet ISON (C/2012 S1) in apparent close proximity to Mars on Friday, October 18th at 10:30 PM PDT / 1:30 AM EDT (10/19) / 05:30 UTC (10/19) with expert commentary from Slooh’s Paul Cox. The show will focus on Comet ISON which due to its relationship between the Earth and Mars appears to be extremely close to Mars – they will be less than 1° apart viewed through the . Comet ISON is continuing its journey toward the Sun at approximately 82,894mph (37 km/s) as it makes its pass of Mars. ISON made its closest approach to Mars on October 1st. Slooh will provide live images of Comet ISON and Mars using three telescopes based at the Slooh in the for the event. Slooh’s Half Meter will be trained on ISON while the T2 Wide Field telescope will show both Mars and Comet ISON in the same Field Of View though Mars is still too small to discern any detail. Cox will provide updates on ISON’s journey including looking at the images taken by Slooh Members every night monitoring it as its coma brightens and its tail lengthens. ISON is getting brighter and brighter as it makes its way towards its sungrazing encounter in November. Commentary of the likely future of ISON will also accompany the broadcast. Information on how viewers can witness the pairing in their own back yards will also be included in the broadcast. Paul Cox, Slooh’s Expert: “Although Mars is still too distant to resolve any detail, the pairing with Comet ISON will look terrific in Slooh’s T2 Wide Field telescope. Slooh Members have been watching Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) every night since it reappeared in August; and it’s getting brighter and brighter. We’ll see some wonderful views of ISON during the live show using the Half Metre telescope controlled by Slooh Members. We may even have the latest Hubble Space Telescope image to look at and discuss during the show.” Media Links - Feed Courtesy of Slooh Link - http://www.youtube.com/user/SloohOnAirVideos?feature=share&v=2RcypzOiWmY Embed - About Slooh Since 2003 Slooh has connected ground-based telescopes to the Internet for access by the broader public. Slooh members have taken over 2.4m photos of over 40,000 celestial objects, and participated in numerous discoveries with leading astronomical institutions. Slooh’s automated develop celestial images in real-time for broadcast to the Internet. Slooh’s technology is protected by Patent No.: US 7,194,146 B2 which was awarded in 2006. Slooh’s flagship observatory is situated on Mt. Teide in the Canary Islands, in partnership with the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC). Slooh has also broadcast live celestial events from partner observatories in Arizona, Japan, Hawaii, Cypress, Dubai, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Norway. Slooh’s free live broadcasts of potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs), comets, transits, eclipses, solar activity etc. feature narration by astronomy experts Bob Berman and Paul Cox and are syndicated to media outlets such as NBC, ABC, CNN, Fox News, National Geographic, the BBC, Wired, The Weather Channel and more. Slooh’s live celestial events have been viewed over a billion times, the highlight of which was the 2011 lunar eclipse broadcast live on Google’s home page. Facebook: www.facebook.com/slooh Twitter: www.twitter.com/slooh