Mars’ tiny moon Phobos looks great above the Sun’s surface in this dramatic eclipse footage captured by NASA’s Persevering Rover.
Looking for life persistence Taking a break on April 2 from his quest to reach the ancient Red Planet River Delta ( Success there yesterday) to observe the passage of the young moon through the sun.
“These observations can help scientists better understand the moon’s orbit and how its gravity pulls on the Martian surface, ultimately shaping the red planet’s crust and mantle,” said officials at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, which runs Perseverance. mission. , He said in a statement About the new eclipse video.
There are other vehicles on Mars, like NASA’s Curiosity Watch the solar eclipse. Mission team members say new footage from the Perseverance Mastcam-Z provides the most powerful view yet of such an event, featuring a high frame rate never before used on the Martian surface.
“I knew it would be great, but I didn’t expect it to be that great,” Rachel Howson of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, a member of the Mastcam-Z team, said in the same statement.
Related: 12 stunning photos from the Perseverance rover’s first year on Mars
phobosIt is about 157 times smaller than Earth’s moon, and is one of Mars’ two natural satellites. other, Demo, even smaller than Phobos. Scientists believe that the two clumps of objects may be previous asteroids captured by Mars’ gravity.
Phobos in file vortex of death Researchers say that above Mars, the Red Planet’s surface will likely collide in a few tens of millions of years.
Nearly 20 years of observing eclipses like this, taken from the discoverer and his surroundings MarsImprove your understanding of the moon’s slowly collapsing orbit.
We also learn more about the structure of Mars from these observations. “As Phobos orbits Mars, its gravity exerts a small tidal force on the Red Planet’s interior, causing slight distortion of rocks in the planet’s crust and mantle,” JPL officials said in a statement. This force also slowly changes the orbit of Phobos. ” .
They added, “As a result, geophysicists can use these changes to better understand how resilient it is Inside Mars It reveals more about the material in the crust and mantle.”
2022 solar eclipse guide: When, where and how to see it
Previous rover missions have captured Phobos and/or Deimos as they move across the Sun’s surface. JPL officials refer to Phobos observations from NASA’s twin Soul and opportunity Rovers in 2004, designed by members of the mission team at Time lapse videos.
Curiosity’s enhanced abilities allow the rover to do so Record solar eclipse videoand the number of eclipse views is now dozens. In 2019Curiosity, Opportunity, and Spirit have collectively observed 40 eclipses by Phobos and eight solar transits by Deimos.
Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z has additional enhancements over its predecessor’s camera system: a sunglasses-like filter that reduces the intensity of the sun’s rays, allowing scientists to see the bumps and hills in the Phobos chart as well as various sunspots in the sun. (It is the sun Active all month Due to such sunspots.)
Perseverance on a years-long mission to search for signs of ancient life on Mars, collecting and storing dozens of samples that might hold clues about the Red Planet’s creatures. NASA and the European Space Agency plan to return the sample to Earth via a re-sampling campaign within the next decade or so.
Perseverance joined his flight with a brave helicopter, cleverness. Small helicopter exceeds planned flight manifest five times, Reached 25 sorties to date.
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