{"83681":{"#nid":"83681","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Take A Closer Look as Mars Approaches Earth","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESky watchers will get a treat this month as Earth and Mars make their closest approach to each other in thousands of years.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThroughout August 2003, the Red Planet has appeared bigger and brighter in the night sky as its orbit brings it closer to Earth. But at 5:51 a.m. Aug. 27, Mars will be closer to Earth than it has been at any time in the past 59,000 years, said Jim Sowell, an astronomer and physicist at the Georgia Institute of Technology.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Normally it\u0027s one of the brightest objects in the heavens, but Mars will double in brightness during this period,\u0022 Sowell said. \u0022It is almost already as big as it is going to appear, and it will stay this large through September.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThrough a telescope, Mars should appear as an orange disk with possibly a white ice cap, he said. But there are other ways for the public to catch a glimpse of the planet, too.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EToday, NASA announced it will allow sky watchers an unprecedented opportunity to suggest places on Mars that should be photographed from a spacecraft  orbiting the planet. Camera operators for NASA\u0027s Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft are ready to take suggestions online for new places for images from the Mars Orbiter Camera.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe spacecraft, managed by NASA\u0027s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, has been orbiting Mars since 1997, having conducted more than 20,000 orbits so far. The Mars Orbiter Camera onboard has taken more than 120,000 pictures in that time. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EMany of the camera\u0027s images have sharp enough resolution to show  features as small as a school bus. The images have revealed relatively recent gully erosion, ancient sedimentary rocks and many other spectacular scientific surprises.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAn online gallery of pictures taken by the camera is available at the link below.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We\u0027ve only covered about three percent of the surface area of Mars with the high-resolution camera. We want to be sure we\u0027re not missing some place that could be important, so we\u0027re casting a wide net for new suggestions,\u0022 said Dr. Ken Edgett, staff scientist at Malin Space Science Systems, the  San Diego firm that supplied and operates the camera for NASA. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We\u0027re looking for excellent suggestions of areas on Mars that we have not already imaged,\u0022 Edgett said. \u0022We\u0027ll look at every request that comes in.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EInformation about how to submit requests is posted online at the link below.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ERequesters should describe the purpose for the suggested image. Suggestions for target sites already imaged by the camera will be disqualified unless there is a convincing reason for repeating the target. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Some of the best requests may be places nowhere near any site the Mars Orbiter Camera has imaged before,\u0022 Edgett said. As with pictures desired by Mars scientists working with the camera every day, new suggestions will need to wait until the Mars Global Surveyor flies directly over the selected target, which could be several months or longer. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe first images from this public suggestion program will probably be released this fall.\n\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"Throughout this month, Mars has appeared bigger and brighter in the night sky as its orbit brings it closer to Earth. But at 5:51 a.m. Aug. 27, the Red Planet will be closer to Earth than at any time in the past 59,000 years. Jim Sowell, an astronomer and physicist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, said it\u0027s a great time to catch a glimpse of Earth\u0027s celestial neighbor.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27304","created_gmt":"2003-08-21 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:02:06","author":"Matthew Nagel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2003-08-20T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2003-08-20T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"83691":{"id":"83691","type":"image","title":"Mars, the Red Planet","body":null,"created":"1449178095","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:28:15","changed":"1475894700","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:45:00"}},"media_ids":["83691"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.space.com\/scienceastronomy\/mystery_monday_030818.html","title":"Space.Com: Mars Won\u0027t Kill You"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.space.com\/marsrover\/","title":"Space.Com: Mars Rovers"},{"url":"http:\/\/mars.jpl.nasa.gov\/","title":"NASA and Mars Exploration"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.msss.com\/plan\/intro","title":"Mars Photo Request Page"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.msss.com\/moc_gallery\/","title":"Mars Global Surveyor Web site"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech Media Relations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELaura Diamond\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:laura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elaura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-894-6016\u003Cbr \/\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-660-2926\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["matthew.nagel@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}