In December 2007, the Mars closest approach and opposition will occur within a week of each other. This is an exciting time for astronomers and planetary geologists to image and study our planetary neighbor. On December 18, Mars will be the closest it has been in the last two years, reaching a distance of 55 million miles from Earth. This series of images was taken with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on December 1-7, within two weeks of its December 2007 closest approach. Each image shows the planet rotating about 90 degrees from the next image. This gives astronomers a full-globe look at the Red Planet.
[Top Left] - Mars on Dec. 1, 2007; longitude ~50 degrees
[Top Right] - Mars on Dec. 3, 2007; longitude ~225 degrees
[Bottom Left] - Mars on Dec. 3, 2007; longitude ~320 degrees
[Bottom Right] - Mars on Dec. 7, 2007; longitude ~140 degrees
Credits
NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), J. Bell (Cornell University), and M. Wolff (Space Science Institute, Boulder)| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Mars |
| Object Description | Planet |
| Distance | Distance from the Sun: The semi-major axis of Mars' orbit about the sun is 1.52 Astronomical Units (A.U.) or 142 million miles (228 million km). Distance from the Earth: At the December 18, 2007 closest approach, Mars was 55 million miles (88 million kilometers) from Earth. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | These images were created from the HST proposal : K. Noll (The Hubble Heritage Team, STScI), J. Bell III (Cornell Univ.), M. Wolff (Space Science Institute), H. Bond, C. Christian, L. Frattare, F. Hamilton, Z. Levay, M. Mutchler, and W. Januszewski (Hubble Heritage Team, STScI). |
| Instrument | HST>WFPC2 |
| Exposure Dates | December 2007 |
| Filters | F410M (410 nm), F502N (502 nm), and F673N (673 nm) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | Blue: F410M Green: F502N Red: F673N |
| 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 |
|
| 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. |
