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Credit & Copyright: NASA,
HST, WFPC 2,
Philip James (Univ. of Toledo), Steven Lee (Univ. of Colorado).
Explanation:
Orson Welles became an instant legend on Halloween in 1938 for his
radio dramatization of
H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds".
Some listeners who did not realize it was a theatrical production
were driven to near panic by this fictional account of invaders
from Mars.
In the story, as in the
above Hubble Space Telescope image,
Mars was at "opposition", its point of
closest approach to the Earth, a distance of some 65 million miles.
For the Martians, it was imagined
that this was a good time to invade. For astronomers,
opposition is a good time to study the red planet
and this HST image,
represents the clearest view of
Mars ever for an Earth telescope.
The icy north polar cap is visible at
the top of the picture as well as a veil of white clouds along
the planet's left edge. The dark markings represent areas where
the reddish tinged dust characteristic of the
surface has
been blown away by the Martian winds.
Philip James (Univ. of Toledo), Steven Lee (Univ. of Colorado).
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Mars
Publications with words: Mars
See also:
- Full Moon, Full Mars
- APOD: 2025 January 15 Á Wolf Moon Engulfs Mars
- APOD: 2024 December 3 Á Ice Clouds over a Red Planet
- APOD: 2024 November 10 Á Valles Marineris: The Grand Canyon of Mars
- APOD: 2024 September 9 Á Mars: Moon, Craters, and Volcanos
- APOD: 2024 June 5 Á Shadow of a Martian Robot
- Ares 3 Landing Site: The Martian Revisited