Hubble's Close Encounter with Mars

Esahubble_opo0322g_1024

esahubble_opo0322g August 27th, 2003

Credit: NASA/ESA, J. Bell (Cornell U.) and M. Wolff (SSI)

NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope took this close-up of the red planet Mars when it was just 55, 760, 220 km away. This colour image was assembled from a series of exposures taken between 6:20 p.m. and 7:12 p.m. EDT Aug. 26 with Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. The picture was taken just 11 hours before the planet made its closest approach to Earth in 60, 000 years. Many small, dark, circular impact craters can be seen, attesting to the Hubble telescope's ability to reveal fine detail on the planet's surface. One of the most striking is the 450-km diameter Huygens crater, seen near the centre of the image.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0322g/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Mars
Subject - Solar System
Planet

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (R) 673.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (V) 502.0 nm
Blue Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (B) 410.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Green
Blue
Esahubble_opo0322g_1280
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ID
opo0322g
Subject Category
A.1  
Subject Name
Mars
Credits
NASA/ESA, J. Bell (Cornell U.) and M. Wolff (SSI)
Release Date
2003-08-27T12:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0322g/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
N/A
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFPC2, WFPC2, WFPC2
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
R, V, B
Central Wavelength
673, 502, 410
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
Equinox
Reference Value
Reference Dimension
Reference Pixel
Scale
Rotation
Coordinate System Projection:
Quality
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
http://www.spacetelescope.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
opo0322g
Metadata Date
2003-12-09T17:28:12+01:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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