Technical facts about this news release: About the Object Object Name: Mars Object Description: Closest Approach 2003 Distance from the Sun: The semi-major axis of Mars' orbit about the sun is 1.52 Astronomical Units (A.U.) or 142 million miles (228 million km). Distance from the Earth: At the 2003 closest approach, Mars was approximately 35 million miles (56 million kilometers) from Earth. Dimensions: The planet has a diameter of 4,222 miles (6,794 kilometers) at the equator. About the Data Data Description: These data are taken from HST proposal 10065 by J. Bell (Cornell U.), M. Wolff (Space Science Institute), A. Lubenow (STScI), and K. Noll (STScI). Additional image processing and analysis support from: K. Noll and A. Lubenow (STScI); M. Hubbard (Cornell U.); R. Morris (NASA/JSC); P. James (U. Toledo); S. Lee (U. Colorado); and T. Clancy, B. Whitney and G. Videen (SSI); and Y. Shkuratov (Kharkov U.). Instrument: HST/WFPC2 Exposure Dates/Filters: Image 1: August 26, 2003 22:21:52 - 23:12:18 Universal Time; F410M ("B"), F502N ("V"), F631N ("R") Image 2: August 27, 2003 09:35:28 - 10:22:54 Universal Time; F410M (B), F502N (V), F673N (R) About the Image Image Credit: NASA, J. Bell (Cornell U.), and M. Wolff (SSI) Release Date: Image 1: August 27, 2003 6:00AM (EDT) Image 2: August 27, 2003 4:00PM (EDT) *News Release Number:*: STScI-2003-22c
