by APOD Robot » Mon May 09, 2022 4:05 am
A Martian Eclipse: Phobos Crosses the Sun
Explanation: What's that passing in front of the Sun? It looks like a moon, but it can't be
Earth's Moon, because it isn't round. It's the Martian moon
Phobos. The
featured video was taken from the
surface of Mars a month ago by the Perseverance rover.
Phobos, at 11.5 kilometers across, is 150 times smaller than
Luna (our moon) in diameter, but also 50 times closer to its
parent planet. In fact,
Phobos is
so close to Mars that
it is expected to break up and crash into
Mars within the next 50 million years. In the near term, the low orbit of
Phobos results in more rapid solar eclipses than seen from
Earth. The
featured video is shown in real time -- the transit
really took about 40 seconds,as shown. The videographer -- the
robotic rover Perseverance (Percy) -- continues to explore
Jezero Crater on
Mars, searching not only for clues to the watery history of the
now dry world, but evidence of
ancient microbial life.
[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220509.html] [img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_220509.jpg[/img] [size=150]A Martian Eclipse: Phobos Crosses the Sun[/size][/url]
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