Hubble image archive
Mars Corona
Caption These are far-ultraviolet Hubble images of Mars near its farthest point from the Sun, called aphelion, on December 31, 2017 (top), and near its closest approach to the Sun, called perihelion, on December 19, 2016 (bottom). The atmosphere is clearly brighter and more exten...
- Date
- Sep 5, 2024
- Mission
- Hubble Space Telescope
- Archive ID
- hubblesite-images-2024-028-01j5p5q2ad79g6zr2mzexn8ggc
Caption
These are far-ultraviolet Hubble images of Mars near its farthest point from the Sun, called aphelion, on December 31, 2017 (top), and near its closest approach to the Sun, called perihelion, on December 19, 2016 (bottom). The atmosphere is clearly brighter and more extended when Mars is close to the Sun.
Reflected sunlight from Mars at these wavelengths shows scattering by atmospheric molecules and haze, while the polar ice caps and some surface features are also visible. Hubble and MAVEN showed that Martian atmospheric conditions change very quickly. When Mars is close to the Sun, water molecules rise very rapidly through the atmosphere, breaking apart and releasing atoms at high altitudes.
Image Details
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Mars |
| Object Description | Planet |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The HST observations include those from programs (J. Clarke) and (D. Bhattacharyya) |
| Instrument | ACS |
| Exposure Dates | 19 Dec 2016 and 31 Dec 2017 |
| Filters | F115LP |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | This image is acquired by the ACS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. The color results from assigning a red hue to a monochromatic (grayscale) image. |
| About The Image | |
| Compass and Scale Image | An astronomical image with a scale that shows how large an object is on the sky, a compass that shows how the object is oriented on the sky, and the filters with which the image was made. |
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Source
Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.
View on NASA.gov