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Hubble Views Mars at its Closest to Earth
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 09:00 am ET
05 July 2001
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mars_hubble_010705WASHINGTON The powerful Hubble Space Telescope has snapped the best images of Mars ever taken from Earth. Sharp-eyed optics on the orbiting facility resolved features on the red planet as small as 10 miles (16 kilometers) across. A little help from Mars itself made taking the up-close pictures possible. Last month, Mars and Earth were at the closest points in their respective orbits. Distance between the two worlds was 43 million miles (68 million kilometers). Thats the closest Mars has been to Earth since 1988, and the best viewing for Hubble since it was lofted in 1990. Compelling target The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) snapped the new Mars images in late June, under the auspices of the Hubble Heritage Project, home-based at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. This project is dedicated to using the spaceborne eye to help foster public interest in astrophysical research by selective targeting of visually interesting, compelling, and colorful objects. The fresh batch of HST Mars pictures show a number of features on the reddish globe. In fact, the resolution of the images equals that obtained from Mars spacecraft that zipped by or orbited the planet in the 1960s and 1970s. A number of surface and atmospheric phenomena are visible. The most striking features are two dust storms caught in the act. One storm is churning away high above the north polar cap (top). A second swirling dust storm can be seen spilling out of the north end of the giant Hellas impact basin (lower right). 
Mars: Photographed by the Hubble Space
Telescope on June 26, 2001
"These storms are also being monitored at lower resolution by a growing cadre of amateur astronomers here on Earth. The storms redistribute dust and soil around the planet and are responsible for the changing patterns of the markings seen from year to year," said Jim Bell, assistant professor at Cornell Universitys Department of Astronomy in Ithaca, New York. Candidate landing sites Other prominent features in Hubbles "Mars collection" include the planets south polar cap, comprised mostly of carbon dioxide dry ice. An equatorial cloud belt is visible, but much less developed than has been viewed in previous Hubble shots of Mars, Bell said. Bell said that use of the HST is contributing to the selection of landing sites for future Mars rover missions. NASA is now readying dual launchings of rovers in 2003. "Images from HST are helping to define the most interesting potential landing sites by providing information on the surface mineralogy and the seasonal/annual meteorological conditions of dozens of candidate landing locations," Bell said. Between now and when the two Mars rovers near Mars in 2004, HST and ground-based observers are slated to monitor the red planet for new signs of surface and weather activity, Bell said.
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