Don Savage
Headquarters, Washington, DC                November 1, 1996
(Phone:  202/358-1547)

Tammy Jones
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
(Phone:  301/286-5566)

Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD
(Phone:  410/338-4514)

NOTE TO EDITORS:  N96-74

NEW HUBBLE IMAGES SHOW DUST STORMS AT MARS NORTH POLE

       Two Hubble Space Telescope images of Mars, taken
about a month apart on September 18 and October 15, 1996,
reveal a Texas-sized dust storm churning near the edge of
the Martian north polar cap.  The polar storm is probably a
consequence of large temperature differences between the
polar ice and the dark regions to the south, which are
heated by the springtime Sun.

       Mars is famous for large, planet-wide dust storms.
Smaller storms resembling the one seen here were observed in
other regions by Viking orbiters in the late 1970s.
However, this is the first time that such an event has been
caught near the receding north polar cap.  This kind of
advanced planetary "weather report" will be invaluable for
aiding preparation for the landing of NASA's Pathfinder
spacecraft in July 1997 and the arrival of Mars Global
Surveyor (MGS) orbiter in September 1997.  The MGS mission
is scheduled for launch on November 6, and the Mars
Pathfinder is scheduled for launch December 2.

       Images to accompany this release are available to
news media representatives by calling the Headquarters
Imaging Branch at 202/358-1900.  The NASA color photo number
is 96-HC-716.

       The images are also available electronically through
the Internet on the NASA Headquarters World Wide Web home
page "Today@NASA" located at:

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/NewsRoom/today.html

       Image files in GIF and JPEG format and captions may
be accessed on the Internet via anonymous ftp from
ftp.stsci.edu in /pubinfo.

                                  GIF                 JPEG
PRC96-34 Mars Dust Storms   gif/marsds96.gif   jpeg/marsds96.jpg

       Higher resolution digital versions (300 dpi JPEG) of
the release photograph are available in /pubinfo/hrtemp: 96-
34.jpg (color) and 96-34bw.jpg (black/white).

       GIF and JPEG images, captions and press release text
are available via World Wide Web at

http://www.stsci.edu/pubinfo/PR/96/34.html and via links in:
http://www.stsci.edu/pubinfo/Latest.html or
http://www.stsci.edu/pubinfo/Pictures.html.

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