Hubble Space Telescope Captures Stunning Photos Of Mars

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has taken photos of Mars all in its glory as the planet comes closer to Earth-the shortest distance in the last decade.

The Washington Post reported that HST was able to take photos from about 50 million miles away as Earth and the Red Planet are nearing "opposition", a term used when their orbits line them up with the Sun and the two planets becomes very close to one another.

Hubble's NEW view of #Mars! On Sun. #Mars will be as close as it’s been to Earth in 9 yrs.https://t.co/8mWPgn7MDG pic.twitter.com/JjOlArHOLE

— Hubble (@NASA_Hubble) May 19, 2016

The phenomenon happens every 780 days or more, and HST has been documenting this since it was launched in year 1990. Planet Mars may be known for its unpleasant history of blistering solar wind, giant tsunamis, and event robot invasions. But the photos shared were totally different from the images of the bad stories about Mars.

The spot Syrtis Major can be clearly seen in the photo. This is an inactive shield volcano with clouds around it. The photo also shows the Hellas Planitia basin, which is located south of the volcano. This basin, which is also a crater, is about five miles deep and was formed by an asteroid about 3.5 billion years ago, according to The Washington Post report.

BBC News reported that the actual date of opposition is on May 22 at 11:10 GMT. The two planets will be closest to each other on May 30 as the distance will only be 75 million kilometers.

Countless astronomers with smaller telescopes than Hubble will be grabbing the chance to view Mars in the week ahead. The planetary alignment means the Red Planet's disc, as well as being larger in the sky than usual, is also fully illuminated. While the phenomena happens every 780 days, this year's alignment will be the closest in the past decade as the two will only be 46.8 million miles away from each other, according to BBC News.