Hubble Monitors Weather on Mars and Venus

What's the weather for Mars and Venus? The Hubble telescope has given astronomers a peak. The telescope is serving as an interplanetary weather satellite for studying the climate on Earth's neighboring worlds, Mars and Venus. To the surprise of researchers, Hubble is showing that the Martian climate has changed considerably since the unmanned Viking spacecraft visited the Red Planet in the mid-1970s. The Hubble pictures indicate that the planet is cooler, clearer, and drier than a couple of decades ago. In striking contrast, Hubble's observations of Venus show that the atmosphere continues to recover from an intense bout of sulfuric "acid rain," triggered by the suspected eruption of a volcano in the late 1970s.

About The Object
Object Name	Mars, Venus

About The Object
Object Name	A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
Object Description	The type of astronomical object.
R.A. Position	Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
Dec. Position	Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
Constellation	One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
Distance	The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
Dimensions	The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
About The Data
Data Description	Proposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive. Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.
Instrument	The science instrument used to produce the data.
Exposure Dates	The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
Filters	The camera filters that were used in the science observations.
About The Image
Image Credit	The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content.
Publication Date	The date and time the release content became public.
Color Info	A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.
Orientation	The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere.

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