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English: Mars' Moon Phobos Eclipses the Sun - viewed by Curiosity Rover, August 20, 2013. This video clip shows the larger of the two moons of Mars, Phobos, passing directly in front of the sun, in an eclipse photographed by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity.
Given Phobos' irregular shape and assuming that it is a pile of rubble (specifically a Mohr–Coulomb body), it will eventually break up due to tidal forces when it reaches approximately 2.1 Mars radii. [60] When Phobos is broken up, it will form a planetary ring around Mars. [61] This predicted ring may last from 1 million to 100 million years.
A transit of Phobos from Mars usually lasts only thirty seconds or so, due to the moon's very rapid orbital period of approximately 7.6 hours. Because Phobos orbits close to Mars and in line with its equator, transits of Phobos occur somewhere on Mars on most days of the Martian year. Its orbital inclination is 1.08°, so the latitude of its ...
Phobos has a diameter of 22.2 km (13.8 mi) and a mass of 1.08 × 10 16 kg, while Deimos measures 12.6 km (7.8 mi) across, with a mass of 1.5 × 10 15 kg. Phobos orbits closer to Mars, with a semi-major axis of 9,377 km (5,827 mi) and an orbital period of 7.66 hours; while Deimos orbits farther with a semi-major axis of 23,460 km (14,580 mi) and ...
Phobos was the primary object of study for the Phobos 1 spacecraft. Phobos 1 was an uncrewed Soviet space probe of the Phobos Program launched from the Baikonour launch facility on 7 July 1988. [1] Its intended mission was to explore Mars and its moons Phobos and Deimos. The mission failed on 2 September 1988 when a computer malfunction caused ...
Observers on Mars can also view lunar eclipses of Phobos and Deimos. Phobos spends about an hour in Mars's shadow; for Deimos it is about two hours. Surprisingly, despite its orbit being nearly in the plane of Mars's equator and despite its very close distance to Mars, there are some occasions when Phobos escapes being eclipsed.
Because of this, Mars will look grander and more vivid than usual, making it a great time to view the planet. How To View Mars in January 2025. If you love astronomy, this is the best time to ...
1 comment. 4 View from Mars. 4 comments. 5 The Hurtling moons of Barsoom. 1 comment ...