Mars’s Closest Approach to Earth in 2018

Hubble photographed Mars on July 18, 2018, near its closest approach to Earth since 2003. The planet was observed near opposition, when the Sun, Earth, and Mars are lined up, with Earth sitting in between the Sun and Mars. This proximity — just 36.9 million miles from Earth, near its July 27, 2018, opposition — gave the Red Planet its brightest appearance in the night sky since the 2003 opposition. When the image was taken, it was summertime in Mars’ southern hemisphere, where a dust storm had erupted and ballooned into a global event that blanketed the entire planet. Even so, several distinctive features can be identified. The two small moons of Mars, Phobos (right) and Deimos (left), appear in the lower half of the image.