Mars and Saturn are really beautiful in these new Hubble images

March is in opposition tonight which means that it is about as close and as bright as it is going to be. To celebrate, Hubble has released new images of the dusty red planet, as well as Saturn, which was in opposition last month.

Opposition means that the Sun, the Earth and Mars are lined up (and the Earth is at its closest point to the red planet), making Mars brighter than usual. Mars will be the closest in 15 years, just 57.8 million kilometers, so it's the best time to watch it through a telescope. But more importantly, you will be able to see the entire planet enveloped in the dust storm that is currently threatening Opportunity rover.

"If you have binoculars or a telescope, you will see some of the structure," NASA scientist Geronimo Villanueva told Gizmodo. "It will seem unresolved because of the dust storm."

It may seem disappointing that the planet will look blurry, but that Is rather incredible. Extreme weather events occur on another planet, and amateur astronomers on Earth can actually see them

The opposition is a good time to study the planets with the Hubble Space Telescope, which revolves around the Earth. Hubble can provide something that experiments on the surface of Mars and in its orbit can not: sharp images of the entire planet. Scientists can track the evolution of the global dust storm over time in a single image. In addition, the opposition allows slightly more beautiful images. "If you're doing astronomy, having a larger body allows you to get higher resolution images," Villanueva said.

This new image comes after a few months of Martian news. The Curiosity robot recently discovered 3.5 billion year old organic molecules in Mars' Gale crater. This week, the Mars Express spacecraft announced what appeared to be a huge body of salt water about a mile below the Martian surface. Meanwhile, a local dust storm on the surface of the planet has become global, cutting off human contact with the robot Opportunity

If you have a pair of binoculars or a telescope, you might want to watch Mars this evening (once you have finished looking at the lunar eclipse today, if you are in a place that can see it). Mars gets up at 8:38 pm ET (5:38 pm PT) and sets up Saturday at 5:29 pm (2:29 pm PT). In addition, Jupiter and Saturn will still shine – Saturn was in opposition last month.

Go see the space!

[HubbleSite.org]