Even Mars rovers prefer to chase photo voltaic eclipses.
On Sept. 30, NASA’s Perseverance rover turned its Left Mastcam-Z digital camera towards the sky and photographed a photo voltaic eclipse from Mars, capturing the planet’s moon Phobos partially blocking the solar’s disk.
Within the collection of pictures, you’ll be able to distinctly see the form of Phobos, which resembles a lumpy potato. Phobos, which is the bigger of Mars’ two tiny moons, is not spherical like our personal moon — or many moons in our photo voltaic system, for that matter — however somewhat irregular like an asteroid.
Measuring roughly 17 miles by 14 miles by 11 miles (27 by 22 by 18 kilometers), this Phobos orbits Mars at an exceptionally shut distance — simply 3,700 miles (6,000 km). By comparability, our moon circles at a median distance of 238,855 miles (384,400 km) from Earth. And Phobos is a quick mover, finishing three orbits of Mars in a single day.
Associated: What’s a photo voltaic eclipse?
Whereas Phobos would possibly seem like an asteroid, it doubtless is not one. In truth, the origin of Phobos is without doubt one of the moon’s greatest mysteries. Some scientists have dominated out Phobos as a captured asteroid for one predominant cause — its orbit round Mars is almost excellent. If Mars’ gravitational pull had snagged a passing asteroid, the kidnapped object doubtless would have an irregular orbit.
Present theories in regards to the origin of Phobos and its companion moon, Deimos, revolve round some type of accretion, whether or not that is from leftover materials as Mars fashioned or from a cataclysmic collision between the Crimson Planet and one other celestial physique.
Perseverance’s latest picture collection of Phobos is not the primary time the rover has imaged a photo voltaic eclipse; it additionally photographed the rectangular moon transiting the solar in April 2022 and February 2024.
And, the truth is, Perseverance wasn’t even the primary rover to picture such an occasion. NASA’s twin Spirit and Alternative rovers noticed Phobos photo voltaic transits in 2004, whereas Curiosity recorded the primary video of 1 in 2019. See? Rovers actually do love chasing photo voltaic eclipses!
