Hubble Space Telescope: Super-detailed image of Mars released by Nasa

On 30 May, Mars will be the closest it has been to Earth in 11 years

The picture was snapped by the Hubble telescope on 12 May, 2016 (NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), J. Bell (ASU), M. Wolff (Space Science Institute))

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured one of the most detailed pictures of Mars ever taken.

The image, released by Nasa, is a real close-up of the Red Planet - its rust-coloured surface, white polar caps and drifting clouds are all clearly visible in the Hubble's picture.

Revealing details of the planet which are as small as 20 to 30 miles across, it shows some of the clearest images yet of Mars's geography.

This annotated image shows the Red Planet's different regions (NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), J. Bell (ASU), and M. Wolff (Space Science Institute))

The image's clarity is partly down to good timing. It was taken on 12 May, not long before the 'Mars opposition' on 22 May, when the planet and the Sun will be on the exact opposite sides of the Earth.

A year on Mars is almost twice the length of one on Earth, so periods when the planet is so well-illuminated are fairly uncommon.

You don't have to have the Hubble at your disposal to get great views of Mars at this time of year. As the planets align, Mars will come within 46.8 million miles of Earth on 30 May, the closest it has been in 11 years.

It'll be hard to beat the 2003 opposition, however, when Mars was only 34.6 million miles from Earth, the closest it had come in 60,000 years.