NASA’s Perseverance spacecraft captured solar eclipse when crossing a moon red planetPhobos, with the Sun, obscuring part of the solar disk.
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Space amateurs spotted the eclipse in preliminary images taken by the rover on Nov. 18.
Planetary scientist Paul Byrne posted the scene on his Twitter account, commenting: “This is a partial eclipse of the sun as seen from the surface of Mars on Friday.”
This is not a googly eye.
This is a partial solar eclipse, seen from the surface of Mars on Friday. pic.twitter.com/5DTasxUYAc
— Paul Byrne (@ThePlanetaryGuy) November 20, 2022
Phobos is known as the moon closest to Mars of the two moons that orbit the red planet, and the other moon is called Deimos.
Phobos’ surface features pits and grooves and is 17 miles (27 km) wide at its widest, and the moon orbits Mars in a relationship likely to lead to its destruction someday millions of years from now.
The Perseverance spacecraft captured the scene of the eclipse as it circled through Jezero crater, a gorgeous area with a watery history.
The rover is collecting rock samples from the area, looking for evidence of ancient microbial life and studying the landscape.
