Big Mars from Hubble
Explanation:
At about 10 am
Universal Time today,
Mars and
Earth will pass
closer than in nearly 60,000 years.
Mars,
noticeably red, will be the brightest object in the
eastern sky just after sunset.
Tonight and through much of this week,
many communities around the world are running a public
Mars Watch 2003 campaign, where local
telescopes will zoom in on the red planet.
Pictured above is an image of Mars taken just last night from
the
Hubble Space Telescope
in orbit around the Earth.
This image is the most detailed view of Mars ever taken from Earth.
Visible features include the south
polar cap in white at the image bottom,
circular
Huygens crater just to the right of the image center,
Hellas Impact Basin - the large light circular feature at the lower right,
planet-wide light highlands dominated by many smaller
craters and
large sweeping dark areas
dominated by relatively smooth lowlands.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
