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J.F. Bell III, E.Z. Noe Dobrea, M.Y.H. Hubbard (Cornell Univ.), M.J. Wolff (SSI), K. Noll, A. Lubenow (STScI), R.V. Morris (NASA/JSC), G. Videen (U.S. Army Res. Lab.), Y. Shkuratov (Kharkov Univ.)
We conducted a coordinated campaign of HST observations of Mars in August and September 2003 (Ls = 250 degrees; southern Mars summer) to study the planet's surface and atmospheric properties and to exploit the closest Earth-Mars opposition in nearly 60,000 years (0.372 AU; apparent angular diameter of 25.1"). Here we report multispectral imaging and spectroscopy results from WFPC2, ACS, and STIS. Initial results from ACS polarimetry and NICMOS imaging also conducted as part of this campaign are reported elsewhere (Noe Dobrea et al., this volume; Kreslavsky et al., this volume).
WFPC2 images were acquired on 2003 Aug. 21, 22, 26, 27, and 28 at six central meridian longitudes (19, 94, 121, 196, 276, and 317 degrees west) and using up to 11 filters (255, 334, 409, 501, 589, 628, 673, 750, 855, 953, and 1020 nm). The sub-Earth latitude for these observations was -19 degrees, and the spatial resolution at the sub-Earth point was 12.5 km/pixel. ACS HRC images were acquired on 2003 Aug. 24 and Sep. 5, 7, 12, and 15 and cover only a single hemisphere of Mars, centered near 25 degrees west longitude, -19 degrees latitude, at a spatial resolution of about 7 km/pixel. ACS images were acquired in 14 filters: 277, 337, 410, 431, 502, 658, 757, 800, 824, 860, 891, 950, 1000, and 1071 nm. STIS CCD slit-scan image cubes from 270 to 590 nm at a spectral resolution of 0.275 nm/channel were obtained on 2003 Aug. 21, 22, 27, and 28 and cover about 50 planet at a spatial resolution of about 13x52 km/spectrum.
The observations provide new information on UV to near-IR spectral properties of the surface and atmosphere and provide scientific and calibration data that are complementary to data obtained from Mars orbit by MGS, Mars Odyssey, and Mars Express.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #4
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.