Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Planetary Photo Journal Collection
Title:
A Closer Hubble Encounter With Mars - Syrtis Major
Original Caption Released with Image:
Taking advantage of Mars's closest approach to Earth in eight years, astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have taken the space-based observatory's sharpest views yet of the Red Planet. NASA is releasing these images to commemorate the second anniversary of the Mars Pathfinder landing. The lander and its rover, Sojourner, touched down on the Red Planet's rolling hills on July 4, 1997, embarking on an historic three-month mission to gather information on the planet's atmosphere, climate, and geology.

The telescope's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 snapped images between April 27 and May 6, when Mars was 54 million miles (87 million kilometers) from Earth. From this distance the telescope could see Martian features as small as 12 miles (19 kilometers) wide. The telescope obtained four images (see PIA01587), which, together, show the entire planet.

This image is centered on the dark feature known as Syrtis Major, first seen telescopically by the astronomer Christian Huygens in the 17th century. Many small, dark, circular impact craters can be seen in this region, attesting to the Hubble telescope's ability to reveal fine detail on the planet's surface. To the south of Syrtis a large circular feature called Hellas. Viking and more recently Mars Global Surveyor have revealed that Hellas is a large and deep impact crater. These Hubble telescope pictures show it to be filled with surface frost and water ice clouds. Along the right limb, late afternoon clouds have formed around the volcano Elysium.

This color composite is generated from data using three filters: blue (410 nanometers), green (502 nanometers), and red (673 nanometers).
Addition Date:
1999-08-23
Image Credit:
Steve Lee (University of Colorado), Jim Bell (Cornell University), Mike Wolff (Space Science Institute), and NASA
Produced By:
Space Telescope Science Institute
Mission:
Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
Spacecraft:
Hubble Space Telescope
Target Name:
Mars
Is a satellite of:
Sol (our sun)
Instrument:
Wide Field Planetary Camera 2
Product Size:
800 samples x 800 lines
Primary Data Set:
Space Telescope Science Institute
Producer ID:
STSCI-PRC99-27D
facet_what:
Sun
facet_what:
Crater
facet_what:
Earth
facet_what:
Mars
facet_what:
Viking
facet_what:
Camera 2
facet_what:
Mars Pathfinder
facet_what:
Surveyor
facet_what:
Huygens Probe
facet_what:
Wide Field Planetary Camera 2
facet_what:
Deep Impact
facet_what:
Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
facet_what:
Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter (MGS)
facet_where:
Mars
facet_where:
Colorado
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_when:
17th century
facet_when:
July 4, 1997
facet_when_year:
1997
Image #:
PIA01592
UID:
SPD-PHOTJ-PIA01592
orignial url:

A Closer Hubble Encounter With Mars - Syrtis Major