High resolution image of Mars as shot from the Hubble Space Telescope.
This is a public domain image from GRIN, the Great Images In NASA Collection within the NASA image archive.
This is a great high resolution image of Mars as shot from the Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble was directed at the red planet during a period when the orbit of mars and earth were nearest. You will see frozen icecaps at both poles, along with several cycling storms.
This image was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope – NASA. Because NASA is department of the United States government, this image is in the public domain.
238 kilobyte JPG. Hosted by nasa.gov.
User Descriptions
03.27.10
The stark, black background is striking as you take in the beauty of the planet.Your eyes could be fooled into thinking you were looking at a child’s ball. The swirls of orange melt into black ,white and grey blend in together and you begin to realize they are the gases that make up the planet’s atmosphere.Black specks look like paint splatter, but are actually hundreds of times larger than any drop of paint. A white spot sits just at the top of the planet , almost like a polar ice cap. I feel as if I could almost use this point to look inside the planet and see it’s inner workings. Is it filled with molten liquid or solid rock. Is the core hot and bubbling or still and cold ? the thin mist that seems to escape from the top of the plant wafts down and I wonder if it feels like a cool breeze. Is it a hot blast of air that just sits stagnantly enveloping the planet slowly ? Or could it be a storm beginning to swell and churn? Whatever it is the planet is completely still in anticipation of what is to come.
03.27.10
Mars, the fourth closest orbiting planet from the sun, is a rusty red color. It has a northern ice cap that has recently been proven to be water ice. It is theorized that Mars once had flowing rivers and possibly oceans due to many gullies and canals on it’s surface. Mars was named after the mythological Roman god of war and has two orbiting moons. Mars is quite a bit smaller than Earth and has a much weaker atmosphere, though scientists believe to have had large amounts of water it’s atmosphere must have been much stronger in the past. Upon seeing the image, my first thoughts were of the supposed pyramid on the planet that is host to countless conspiracy theories. Some claim these ‘pyramids’ have geometry requiring a measured hand and suppose that they are too similar to Earthen structures to be a coincidence. I, personally, believe these pyramids are simply natural formations breathed new life by poor viewing technology and lot’s of imagination. Although, one must wonder that if there was indeed water on Mars, then there must have been life. And any life, be it simple or complex, found off of Earth gives one hope that we truly are not alone.