NASA’s Perseverance rover will pass in front of the sun on September 30, 2024, the 1,285th Martian day (Sol) since the start of its mission. I captured the silhouette of Phobos inside.
Perseverance captured the silhouette of Phobos passing in front of the Sun on September 30, 2024. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS.
Phobos was discovered in 1877 by the American astronomer Asaph Hall, along with its smaller cousin Deimos.
It orbits approximately 6,000 km (3,700 miles) from the surface of Mars, completing one orbit in just 7 hours and 39 minutes.
Phobos orbits so close to the surface of Mars that the planet’s curvature makes it difficult to see from observers standing at Mars’ polar regions.
Its orbital period is approximately three times the planet’s rotation period, and when viewed from Mars, it rises in the west and sets in the east, an unusual result for a natural satellite.
Phobos measures 26 x 22 x 18 km (16.2 x 13.7 x 11.2 miles) and has a very rugged appearance. There are also impact craters and grooves on the surface.
“Perseverance recently spotted a ‘googly eye’ peering out from space from its perch on the western wall of Jezero Crater on Mars,” NASA scientists said in a statement.
“The pupil of this celestial gaze is Mars’ moon Phobos, and the iris is our sun.”
The event, captured by the Mastcam-Z spacecraft on September 30, occurred as Phobos passed directly between the Sun and a point on the surface of Mars, obscuring most of the Sun’s disk. .
At the same time that Phobos appeared as a large black disk moving rapidly across the surface of the Sun, its shadow, or foreshadow, moved across the planet’s surface.
“Due to its fast orbit, passages through Phobos typically last only about 30 seconds,” the researchers said.
This isn’t the first time a NASA spacecraft has seen Phobos blocking the sun’s rays.
Perseverance has captured multiple passes of the small moon since landing in Mars’ Jezero Crater in February 2021.
Curiosity shot the video in 2019. Opportunity captured the image in 2004.
“By comparing different images, we can improve our understanding of the moon’s orbit and learn how it is changing,” the scientists said.
“Phobos is moving closer to Mars and is predicted to collide with Mars within about 50 million years.”
Source: www.sci.news
