Global imaging of Mars by Hubble space telescope during the 1995 opposition

Hubble space telescope (HST) imaging of Mars near the 1995 opposition resulted in excellent synoptic-scale images of the planet during the spring season in the northern hemisphere. The images reveal bright, discrete clouds associated with topographic features superimposed on a zonal band of condensate clouds between latitudes -10° and 30°; the maximum violet optical depth of the cloud band is about 0.3. A large, dark albedo feature in the Cerberus region, observed for many years by ground-based observers, has almost disappeared in the 1995 HST images. Other aspects of Mars, such as the north polar cap, appear much as they did during previous oppositions.