Watch Mars’ moons cross paths
On March 1, 2025, the European Space Agency released another round of data from its Mars Express orbiter. Mars Express has been orbiting the red planet since December 2003. The latest data release included the images here, highlighting Mars’ potato-shaped moons – likely captured asteroids – Phobos and Deimos. In the animation above, courtesy of Andrea Luck, we see the larger moon, Phobos, cross directly in front of Deimos from the spacecraft’s point of view. Luck said:
The real time would have been one minute and a few seconds, not as fast as in this animation.
The 2025 EarthSky lunar calendar makes a great gift. Get yours today!
An example of an occultation
When one object crosses directly in front of another, astronomers call that an eclipse or an occultation. In this case, Phobos is occulting Deimos. This event was on August 30, 2024. Here’s an image from 2014 from NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover of the Martian moon Phobos partially eclipsing the sun.
More on Mars’ moons
Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos. Because Mars is named for the Roman God of War, its moons carry appropriate names that mean fear (Phobos) and dread (Deimos). These lumpy, potato-shaped moons are likely captured asteroids from the nearby main asteroid belt.
Phobos is the larger of the two, but still a meager 17 by 14 by 11 miles (27 by 22 by 18 km) in diameter. (In comparison, our moon is more than 2,100 miles or 3,400 km wide.) It circles Mars three times a day. In fact, it circles so closely that, in some places, when the moon is “up”, you still wouldn’t be able to see it due to the horizon. And Phobos is getting closer every year. Eventually, the moon will either crash into the red planet or shred into a ring.
Deimos is 9 by 7 by 6.8 miles (15 by 12 by 11 km) and circles Mars every 30 hours. Its surface has a thick layer of dust, as much as 328 feet (100 meters) deep. Both Deimos and Phobos are tidally locked, which means they always show the same side to their planet, just like our moon.
Bottom line: Watch a video showing Mars’ moons – Phobos and Deimos – crossing in the sky. ESA’s Mars Express orbiter captured these images in August 2024 and the agency released them on March 1, 2025.
The post Watch as Mars’ moons trade places in the sky first appeared on EarthSky.
from EarthSky https://ift.tt/rElMm3z
Watch Mars’ moons cross paths
On March 1, 2025, the European Space Agency released another round of data from its Mars Express orbiter. Mars Express has been orbiting the red planet since December 2003. The latest data release included the images here, highlighting Mars’ potato-shaped moons – likely captured asteroids – Phobos and Deimos. In the animation above, courtesy of Andrea Luck, we see the larger moon, Phobos, cross directly in front of Deimos from the spacecraft’s point of view. Luck said:
The real time would have been one minute and a few seconds, not as fast as in this animation.
The 2025 EarthSky lunar calendar makes a great gift. Get yours today!
An example of an occultation
When one object crosses directly in front of another, astronomers call that an eclipse or an occultation. In this case, Phobos is occulting Deimos. This event was on August 30, 2024. Here’s an image from 2014 from NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover of the Martian moon Phobos partially eclipsing the sun.
More on Mars’ moons
Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos. Because Mars is named for the Roman God of War, its moons carry appropriate names that mean fear (Phobos) and dread (Deimos). These lumpy, potato-shaped moons are likely captured asteroids from the nearby main asteroid belt.
Phobos is the larger of the two, but still a meager 17 by 14 by 11 miles (27 by 22 by 18 km) in diameter. (In comparison, our moon is more than 2,100 miles or 3,400 km wide.) It circles Mars three times a day. In fact, it circles so closely that, in some places, when the moon is “up”, you still wouldn’t be able to see it due to the horizon. And Phobos is getting closer every year. Eventually, the moon will either crash into the red planet or shred into a ring.
Deimos is 9 by 7 by 6.8 miles (15 by 12 by 11 km) and circles Mars every 30 hours. Its surface has a thick layer of dust, as much as 328 feet (100 meters) deep. Both Deimos and Phobos are tidally locked, which means they always show the same side to their planet, just like our moon.
Bottom line: Watch a video showing Mars’ moons – Phobos and Deimos – crossing in the sky. ESA’s Mars Express orbiter captured these images in August 2024 and the agency released them on March 1, 2025.
The post Watch as Mars’ moons trade places in the sky first appeared on EarthSky.
from EarthSky https://ift.tt/rElMm3z
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire