Hubble imaged Mars in natural color using its Wide Field Camera 3. The closest approach in 60,000 years was in 2003, when Mars and Earth were only 34.6 million miles apart, according to NASA.
Advertisement
An opposition means Mars and Earth are lined up with each other on the same side of the sun, which occurs once every two years. The closest approach will actually come on May 30, when Earth and Mars are separated by 46.8 million miles (75.3 million km).
“If Earth and Mars followed perfectly circular orbits, opposition would be as close as the two planets could get”, NASA states on its website.
On May 12, Hubble took a the photo when Mars was just 80 million kilometers from Earth. You can also see the planet’s northern ice cap, though it’s very tiny – after all, it’s summer on Mars.
Mars will be visible at night all along the week. To the far right, you can spot a large, dark region called Syrtis Major Planitia, an ancient inactive shield volcano, which was one of the first features identified on Mars’ surface by seventeenth century observers. However, this year’s event is an “awesome” opportunity to catch a glimpse of the planet, as it “will briefly match the brightness of Jupiter, currently the brightest starlike object in the evening sky (since Venus is now behind the sun)”.
The sun and Mars will be located at the opposite ends on Sunday dawn. By May 30, Mars will be a short 47 million miles away, almost 100 million miles closer than its average distance.
At the center of the image is Arabia Terra, a vast upland area spread over 2,800 miles. Their home, the Red Planet, will make its closest approach to Earth in ten years. Its heavily eroded and densely cratered landscape suggests that it could be one of the oldest features on the planet. This feature is 1100 miles across and nearly five miles deep, it was created 3.5 billion years ago by a massive asteroid impact.
Advertisement
This is the incredible new photograph released by USA space agency Nasa of the planet Mars. These darker regions are covered by bedrock from ancient lava flows and other volcanic features.
