© NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/SSINASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used its Mastcam-Z camera to shoot video of Phobos, one of Mars’ two moons, eclipsing the Sun. It’s the most zoomed-in, highest-frame-rate observation of a Phobos solar eclipse ever taken from the Martian surface.
Look at Phobos go!
The oblong Martian moon was captured making a solar transit by NASA's Perseverance rover on April 2, in footage released earlier this week.
The radical video provides a clear shot of our radiant orange star before the silhouette of what looks to be a potato.
"I knew it was going to be good, but I didn't expect it to be this amazing," gushed Rachel Howson, rover Mastcam-Z operator at Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, Calif., in a NASA news release. On Twitter, NASA called it "truly fascinating."
It zipped past our sun in a mere 40 seconds — far shorter than what we on Earth are used to seeing in an eclipse event involving our moon. That's because Phobos is about 157 times smaller; meanwhile, its sister satellite, Deimos, is even more minuscule at a scale reduced by 280 times.
Also unlike our moon, Phobos is circling in on collapse in what will ultimately come as a crash landing on Mars during the next 50 million years or so. With its orbit currently situated just 3,700 miles from its parent — for comparison, Earth's moon is 238,900 miles away — NASA scientists believe the tiny rock has been slowly eroded by the gravitational tug of its host planet, giving Phobos its signature lumpy shape.
© ESA/ DLR/ FU Berlin (G. Neukum)On 23 July 2008, the High Resolution Stereo Camera on board the ESA’s Mars Express took the highest-resolution full-disc image yet of the surface of the moon Phobos.
"These observations can help scientists better understand the moon's orbit and how its gravity pulls on the Martian surface, ultimately shaping the Red Planet's crust and mantle," the space agency told Storyful.
This is some of the most detailed imagery we now have of Phobos' eclipse activity, which NASA began monitoring nearly 20 years ago, beginning with rovers Spirit and Opportunity, and later Curiosity, in 2019.
In early 2021, Perseverance landed on Mars with the ultimate goal of collecting Martian dirt to analyze for ancient microbial life.
"You can see details in the shape of Phobos' shadow, like ridges and bumps on the moon's landscape," said Mark Lemmon, planetary astronomer with the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, for NASA.gov. "You can also see sunspots. And it's cool that you can see this eclipse exactly as the rover saw it from Mars."
Reader Comments
Do you ever wonder about people who make remarks like these? Wow.
The potato-shaped blob which transits the sun's face. Then, we read: I can't wait to see Deimos eclipse the sun. Wow. Now that's going to be one truly amazing event. I live with bated breath. But, then, again, I have to ask myself. Will I be able to see Deimos eclipse anything? The potato was unremarkable; I might not even see Deimos eclipsing. Ah, WN3. Will the wonders of the Universe truly never cease?
Where are you watching the paint the dry? I'll join you. I need some diversion until Deimos makes the Really Big Eclipse happen.
Call me cynical, call me old but such articles tickle my funny bone 🤣🤣🤣
Should I be painting in the future, your more than welcome to sit with me 🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺 and watch the paint dry.
regards WN3
And if it only takes 40 seconds to cross… why speed it up to 27 seconds? People wouldn’t lose interest for an extra 13 seconds.
Also, watch the 2 spots on the 12 second mark. One disappears before shadow hits. Also you can actually see them move.
Never A Straight Answer is playing with us again. I call manipulation which is against Twitter rules - not that it makes any difference.