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The first person to draw a map of Mars that displayed terrain features was the Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens. On November 28, 1659, he made an illustration of Mars that showed the distinct dark region now known as Syrtis Major Planum, and possibly one of the polar ice caps. [29]
Both sets of findings support an origin of Phobos from material ejected by an impact on Mars that reaccreted in Martian orbit, [40] similar to the prevailing theory for the origin of Earth's moon. The moons of Mars may have started with a huge collision with a protoplanet one third the mass of Mars that formed a ring around Mars.
The northwest contains Pavonis Mons and Arsia Mons, the east contains Syria Planum, the northeast includes Noctis Labyrinthus and the south-central part includes Claritas Fossae. The Phoenicis Lacus quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program.
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.
Once in Mars orbit, PADME would carry out 16 flybys of Phobos followed by 9 flybys of Deimos. [5] Flybys would take place at two-week intervals. Flyby altitudes at closest approach to Phobos and Deimos would be ~2 km. [5] Following completion of its primary mission, PADME could remain in high Mars orbit for long-term monitoring of the martian system and search for potential additional moonlets ...
Scientists have announced the discovery of structures like layering and potential impact craters which had been hidden under Mars’ polar ice caps. New 3-D map of Mars' ice caps reveal hidden ...
Phobos (/ ˈ f oʊ b ə s /; systematic designation: Mars I) is the innermost and larger of the two natural satellites of Mars, the other being Deimos. The two moons were discovered in 1877 by American astronomer Asaph Hall. Phobos is named after the Greek god of fear and panic, who is the son of Ares (Mars) and twin brother of Deimos.
A transit of Phobos across the Sun as seen from Mars takes place when Phobos passes directly between the Sun and a point on the surface of Mars, obscuring a large part of the Sun's disc for an observer on Mars. During a transit, Phobos can be seen from Mars as a large black disc rapidly moving across the face of the Sun. At the same time, the ...