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CNN Live At Daybreak

Looking at the Red Planet

Aired August 27, 2003 - 06:22   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: If you get a chance between brushing your teeth and getting the kids up this morning, step outside and look at the red planet. It may be 34 million miles away, but it looks as if you can touch it. These pictures out of Sydney, Australia this morning.
But let's go live to D.C. to Skip Loescher, who is probably in the best possible place to get a very good look at Mars -- good morning, Skip.

SKIP LOESCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Quite a light show going on. We were treated to just a little bit of it today about an hour and a half ago or so, when the very dense cloud cover here parted just enough for us to get a peek at Mars.

It looked to me, from the naked eye, at least, like a very small, very bright white light in an otherwise dark sky. Mars and Earth coming together, the closest together, at 5:51 Eastern time this morning. The next time they'll be that close, year 2287.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mars is fine. It's neat.

LOESCHER (voice-over): And it's closer to earth than it's been in a long time, a very long time, about 60,000 years. Neanderthals roamed this Earth the last time Mars was this close.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just because I thought might not be around for the next 60,000, so I'll take the chance while I had it.

LOESCHER: So people from all over the Earth are looking into the sky. And you don't have to have the kinds of high powered equipment they have at places like here, at the U.S. Naval Observatory.

JAMES B. GARVIN, MARS EXPLORATION PROGRAM: That we can experience it from our own backyards through binoculars, telescopes, even people with good vision is tremendous.

LOESCHER: Experts say it looks like a fuzzy red orbs bright as almost any of the other planets and with a disc. It is still 34 million miles away, even at its closest point. Scientists are still trying to find out for sure if there ever was enough water to support some form of life on Mars. We're pretty sure there aren't any little green people around. But they keep exploring Mars and there is good reason.

GARVIN: The weather on Mars matters for landing robotic vehicles there. Someday it may matter if we choose to land human beings there. We need to understand that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LOESCHER: The Hubble space telescope is aimed at Mars and we're told by scientists that the pictures they get back from there should be nothing short of spectacular.

We're live at the Naval Observatory in Washington.

I'm Skip Loescher -- Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, Skip, you're talking about those pictures. We've got some new pictures from the Hubble telescope to show you right now. These pictures were taken 11 hours ago. It takes 11 hours for the pictures to develop, so these are fresh pictures off NASA's Web site. And they are the clearest view of Mars ever taken from Earth's orbit. Scientists say these images are ones for the books, the astronomy textbooks, that is.

People all over the Earth are trying to get a glimpse of this once in a lifetime event. As we've been telling you, the red planet won't be this close again until the year 2287. And, by the way, the Hubble has taken more pictures. But as I said, those pictures take 11 hours to develop, so the next new pictures will appear on the Web site at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time, and they should be even more spectacular, and then again on NASA's Web site.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired August 27, 2003 - 06:22   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: If you get a chance between brushing your teeth and getting the kids up this morning, step outside and look at the red planet. It may be 34 million miles away, but it looks as if you can touch it. These pictures out of Sydney, Australia this morning.
But let's go live to D.C. to Skip Loescher, who is probably in the best possible place to get a very good look at Mars -- good morning, Skip.

SKIP LOESCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Quite a light show going on. We were treated to just a little bit of it today about an hour and a half ago or so, when the very dense cloud cover here parted just enough for us to get a peek at Mars.

It looked to me, from the naked eye, at least, like a very small, very bright white light in an otherwise dark sky. Mars and Earth coming together, the closest together, at 5:51 Eastern time this morning. The next time they'll be that close, year 2287.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mars is fine. It's neat.

LOESCHER (voice-over): And it's closer to earth than it's been in a long time, a very long time, about 60,000 years. Neanderthals roamed this Earth the last time Mars was this close.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just because I thought might not be around for the next 60,000, so I'll take the chance while I had it.

LOESCHER: So people from all over the Earth are looking into the sky. And you don't have to have the kinds of high powered equipment they have at places like here, at the U.S. Naval Observatory.

JAMES B. GARVIN, MARS EXPLORATION PROGRAM: That we can experience it from our own backyards through binoculars, telescopes, even people with good vision is tremendous.

LOESCHER: Experts say it looks like a fuzzy red orbs bright as almost any of the other planets and with a disc. It is still 34 million miles away, even at its closest point. Scientists are still trying to find out for sure if there ever was enough water to support some form of life on Mars. We're pretty sure there aren't any little green people around. But they keep exploring Mars and there is good reason.

GARVIN: The weather on Mars matters for landing robotic vehicles there. Someday it may matter if we choose to land human beings there. We need to understand that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LOESCHER: The Hubble space telescope is aimed at Mars and we're told by scientists that the pictures they get back from there should be nothing short of spectacular.

We're live at the Naval Observatory in Washington.

I'm Skip Loescher -- Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, Skip, you're talking about those pictures. We've got some new pictures from the Hubble telescope to show you right now. These pictures were taken 11 hours ago. It takes 11 hours for the pictures to develop, so these are fresh pictures off NASA's Web site. And they are the clearest view of Mars ever taken from Earth's orbit. Scientists say these images are ones for the books, the astronomy textbooks, that is.

People all over the Earth are trying to get a glimpse of this once in a lifetime event. As we've been telling you, the red planet won't be this close again until the year 2287. And, by the way, the Hubble has taken more pictures. But as I said, those pictures take 11 hours to develop, so the next new pictures will appear on the Web site at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time, and they should be even more spectacular, and then again on NASA's Web site.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com