Hubble image archive
Mars: December 2007
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 yea...
- Date
- Jan 1, 2007
- Mission
- Hubble Space Telescope
- Archive ID
- hubblesite-images-2007-45-2226-image
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)Image Details
| 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 |
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Source
Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.
View on NASA.gov