http://www.universetoday.com/119260/the-night-mars-was-closest-to-earth/On Earth, Don Parker’s Mars images were hard to beat, but the Hubble Space Telescope—six times larger than his 16-inch ‘scope and, more importantly, above the atmosphere—easily pulled it off. In this pair of images taken around the time of the planet’s closest approach in 2003, the giant volcano Olympus Mons is the small, bright circular feature above center. Image courtesy Andrew Chaikin.