Solar eclipse of Phobos, taken from the surface of Mars. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / MSSS / SSI
NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance took dramatic shots of Phobos, the potato-shaped moon on Mars, crossing the face of the Sun. These observations may help scientists better understand the moon’s orbit and how its gravity attracts the surface of Mars, ultimately shaping the crust and mantle of the Red Planet.
Captured with Perseverance’s next-generation Mastcam-Z camera on April 2, the 397th Martian day or salt from the mission, the eclipse lasted just over 40 seconds – much shorter than a typical solar eclipse involving the Earth’s moon. (Phobos is about 157 times smaller than the Earth’s moon. Mars’ other moon, Deimos, is even smaller.)
The images are the latest in the long history of NASA’s spacecraft capturing solar eclipses on Mars. Back in 2004, NASA’s Spirit and Opportunity twins took the first photos of Phobos during a solar eclipse. Curiosity continued the trend with videos shot by its Mastcam camera system.
But Perseverance, which landed in February 2021, provided the highest magnification video of a solar eclipse on Phobos to date – and with the highest frame rate ever. This is thanks to Perseverance’s next-generation Mastcam-Z camera system, a Curiosity Mastcam zoom upgrade.
“I knew it was going to be good, but I didn’t expect it to be so amazing,” said Rachel Houseon of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, a member of the Mastcam-Z team that runs the camera.
NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance is using its Mastcam-Z camera to capture a video of Phobos, one of two moons on Mars eclipsing the sun. This is the largest and highest frame observation of a Phobos solar eclipse ever made on the Martian surface. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / MSSS / SSI
Hauson noted that although Perseverance first sends lower-resolution thumbnails that offer an idea of upcoming images, she is stunned by the full-resolution versions: “I feel like a birthday or a holiday when they arrive. You know what’s coming, but there’s still an element of surprise when you see the final product. “
The color also distinguishes this version of Phobos’ solar eclipse. Mastcam-Z has a solar filter that acts like sunglasses to reduce light intensity. “You can see details in the shape of the shadow of Phobos, such as ridges and bumps in the lunar landscape,” said Mark Lehmann, a planetary astronomer at the Boulder Space Institute in Colorado, who organized most of Phobos’ observations from Mars. rovers. “You can also see sunspots. And it’s great that you can see this eclipse just like the rover saw it from Mars.”
As Phobos orbits Mars, its gravity exerts small tidal forces on the interior of the Red Planet, slightly deforming the rock in the planet’s crust and mantle. These forces are also slowly changing the orbit of Phobos. As a result, geophysicists can use these changes to better understand how flexible the interior of Mars is, revealing more about the materials in the crust and mantle.
Scientists already know that Phobos is doomed: the moon is approaching the Martian surface and is destined to crash into the planet in tens of millions of years. But observations of eclipses from the surface of Mars over the past two decades have also allowed scientists to refine their understanding of the spiral of slow death of Phobos.
Curiosity captures two solar eclipses on Mars More information: For more information on Perseverance: mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/
Citation: NASA’s Perseverance Rover shot a video of a solar eclipse on Mars (April 20, 2022), taken on April 20, 2022 from
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