Voice: Well this is a great weekend to go outside and look up in the night sky
and that's because Mars is going to be shining bigger and brighter than any other time
in the past two years, as it approaches the closest point in it's orbit
to Earth, no fancy telescopes are needed. You'll be able to go outside and see Mars
with the naked eye. Here to tell us how we can see Mars this weekend and
also show a new image that the Hubble Space Telescope just took, is Dr. Michelle Thaller
at NASA's at Goddard Space Flight Center, thanks for joining us. Michelle: Great to be here, thank you!
Voice: So start by telling us how can we go outside and see Mars this weekend?
Michelle: Well there's a wonderful opportunity to get a beautiful view of a big bright Mars this weekend
and that's because Mars is at opposition, which means it's on the opposite side of
the sky than the Sun. So as the Sun sets, you'll see both the full moon
and Mars rising in the South Eastern sky, and probably the easiest way to find it is to look
for the full moon. Now opposition means that Earth and Mars are on the same
side of the sun, and that means we're the closest that we get to each other in our orbits.
And that's why Mars seems to look bigger to us and that means brighter in the sky as well
So this weekend Mars will be beautifully big, red, easy
to find and it will be the closest we get to Mars for quite some time
Voice: Now I understand the Hubble Space Telescope just took a new image of Mars
Show us this new image. Michelle: Well that's right, so the Hubble Space Telescope
can also take advantage of this close approach of Mars. So all the way from Earth
orbit we took this beautiful new image of Mars. And you can see things
like vast deserts that are thousands of miles across. The darker areas
are bedrock. And one of the things I particularly love about this image are the clouds
the bright wispy areas you see are indeed clouds. Including
a beautiful collection of them above an extinct volcano called Syrtis Major.
and that's over on the right hand side of he image a gorgeous new image from Hubble.
Voice: When you think of Hubble you often think of far away galaxies but actually
hubble has been instrumental in taking images of planets right here in our solar system.
Talk about some of the things you've learned about our solar system.
Michelle: Well that's right, Hubble is a wonderful tool to explore the nearer universe as well, and we've taken pictures
of so many different planets. This is a movie of Jupiter which is made from Hubble
images, it's incredible. That's actually not an artist's animation. That's real Hubble images
and we've also looked at things like Saturn. You're seeing the southern light
the aurora's of the south pole of Saturn, seen in ultraviolet light
and the Hubble Space Telescope also discovered four of the five moons of Pluto.
and that meant that we were ready to view these moons when New Horizons
flew by Pluto in 2015, So all the way from our solar system
to even deeper sky objects, The Hubble Space Telescope is absolutely at the top of it's game
right now. VOICE: Hubble has been in orbit now for
twenty-six years, which is pretty incredible. talk about what is next for the telescope
Michelle: Well that's right the last servicing mission for Hubble was in 2009
and when that happened we replaced a number of the cameras and instruments and other things
so the Hubble Telescope is well prepared for a life 2020 and beyond.
Taking pictures of stars and distant galaxies
studying the universe from our solar system to the most distant edges.
in 2018 Hubble will be joined by the James Webb Space Telescope, a new giant
space telescope which will actually see the universe in a different way using infrared
or heat light. And we'll have these two wonderful telescopes working side by side
Voice: Great thanks so much. Where can we see more of Hubble's images including
the new image of Mars. Michelle: Well that's right for all the images
taken by Hubble you can actually go to NASA.gov/hubble
you can also follow us on twitter @nasa_Hubble
see the many millions of observations that Hubble has done
and take a look at the universe from the solar system to the very edges.
Voice: Great, thanks so much for joining us. Michelle: Thanks for having me.