Mars Kicks Up the Dust as it Makes Closest Approach to Earth

Technical facts about this news release: About the Object Object Name: Mars Object Description: Planet 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 2005 closest approach, Mars was 43 million miles (69 million kilometers) from Earth. At the 2005 opposition event, Mars was 43.7 million miles (70.3 million kilometers) from Earth. About the Data Data Description: This image was created from HST proposal 10770: K. Noll (The Hubble Heritage Team, STScI), J. Bell (Cornell Univ.), M. Wolff (Space Science Inst.), H. Bond, C. Christian, L. Frattare, F. Hamilton, W. Januszewski, Z. Levay, M. Mutchler, and T. Royle (The Hubble Heritage Team, STScI). Instrument: ACS/HFC WFPC2 Exposure Date(s): October 28, 2005 November 8, 2005 Filters: F250W (250 nm), F502N (502 nm), F658N (658 nm) F410M (410 nm ), F502N (502 nm), and F631N (631 nm) About the Image Image Credit: NASA, ESA, The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), J. Bell (Cornell University) and M. Wolff (Space Science Institute) Release Date: November 3, 2005 Orientation: Two Views of Mars [ http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/2005/34/images/n/formats/compass_large_web.jpg ] What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope snapped this picture of Mars on October 28, within a day of its closest approach to Earth on the night of October 29. The large regional dust storm appears as the brighter, redder cloudy region in the middle of the planet's disk. This storm, which measures 930 miles (1500 km) has been churning in the planet's equatorial regions for several weeks now, and it is likely responsible for the reddish, dusty haze and other dust clouds seen across this hemisphere of the planet. Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys High Resolution Imager took this image when the red planet was 43 million miles (69 million km) from Earth. Mars won't be this close again to Earth until 2018. Mars is now in its warmest months, closest to the Sun in its orbit, resulting in a smaller than normal south polar ice cap which has largely sublimated with the approaching summer. *News Release Number:*: STScI-2005-34f
NASA Identifier: SPD-HUBBLE-STScI-2005-34f