| NASA Center: |
Hubble Space Telescope Center |
|---|
| Image # : |
PR-99-27C |
|---|
| Date : |
06/30/1999
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|---|
|
Title
Mars and Elysium
Full Description
Taking advantage of Mars's closest approach to Earth in eight years,
astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have taken the space-
based observatory's sharpest views yet of the Red Planet.
The telescope's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 snapped these images
between April 27 and May 6, when Mars was 54 million miles (87 million
kilometers) from Earth. From this distance the telescope could see
Martian features as small as 12 miles (19 kilometers) wide.
The telescope obtained these four images, which, together, show the
entire planet. Each view depicts the planet as it completes one quarter
of its daily rotation. In these views the north polar cap is tilted
toward the Earth and is visible prominently at the top of each picture.
The images were taken in the middle of the Martian northern summer,
when the polar cap had shrunk to its smallest size. During this season
the Sun shines continuously on the polar cap. Previous telescopic and
spacecraft observations have shown that this summertime "residual"
polar cap is composed of water ice, just like Earth's polar caps.
These Hubble telescope snapshots reveal that substantial changes in the
bright and dark markings on Mars have occurred in the 20 years since
the NASA Viking spacecraft missions first mapped the planet. The
Martian surface is dynamic and ever changing. Some regions that were
dark 20 years ago are now bright red; some areas that were bright red
are now dark. Winds move sand and dust from region to region, often in
spectacular dust storms. Over long timescales many of the larger bright
and dark markings remain stable, but smaller details come and go as
they are covered and then uncovered by sand and dust.
This image is centered near another volcanic region known as Elysium.
This area shows many small, dark markings that have been observed by
the Hubble telescope and other spacecraft to change as a result of the
movement of sand and dust across the Martian surface. In the upper left
of this image, at high northern latitudes, a large chevron-shaped area
of water ice clouds mark a storm front. Along the right limb, a large
cloud system has formed around the Olympus Mons volcano.
Keywords
Hubble Space Telescope HST Mars Pathfinder Sojourner Viking Wide Field Planetary Camera WFPC Olympus Mons Elysium Syrtis Major Acidalia Tharsis
Subject Category
Planet-Mars, Hubble, Planetary Astronomy,
Reference Numbers
- Center:
HSTI
- Center Number:
PR-99-27C
- GRIN DataBase Number:
GPN-2000-000919
Source Information
- Creator/Photographer: NASA, Steve Lee University of Colorado, Jim Bell Cornell University,
- Original Source: DIGITAL
| Resolution | Format | Width
(Pixels) | Height
(Pixels) | Size
(KBytes) |
Thumbnail |
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36 |
36 |
6 |
Small |
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256 |
256 |
35 |
Medium |
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600 |
600 |
129 |
Large |
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800 |
800 |
226 |
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Updated October 31, 2002
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