images

Mars seen by the Hubble space telescope in 1997.

by

Nasa/Novapix

Reference

a-mar02-00004

Date

2006-10-08

The images were taken on March 10, 1997, just before Mars opposition, when the red planet made one of its closest to the Earth (about 60 million miles or 100 million km). These pictures were taken during three HST orbits that were separated by about six hours. This timing was chosen so that Mars, with its 24-hour 39-minute day, would rotate about 90 degrees between orbits. This imaging sequence therefore covers most of the Martian surface.