A giant eye photographed in the sky of Mars!

A giant eye photographed in the sky of Mars!
A giant eye photographed in the sky of Mars!

Last September 30, while the roverrover American PerseverancePerseverance of the NasaNasa continued its route towards the western edge of the Jezero crater where it landed two and a half years ago, a eyeeye stood in the Martian sky. It was in fact a solar eclipsesolar eclipse par PhobosPhobosthe larger of Mars’ two moons.

Video of the transit in accelerated then real speed. © NASA, JPL-Caltech, ASU, MSSS

Transit pour Halloween

The transittransit of Phobos in front of the Sun was taken by the main camera of the Mastcam-Z rover. This type of exercise requires a certain precision, because the Sun is 70 million kilometers further from Mars compared to the distance it holds from our Planet (150 million kilometers). Timing is also important because of the transit which only lasts 30 seconds!

The eclipse of the Sun by Phobos is not total, and it allows us to see the potatooid shape of the lunelune Martian, which calls into question its nature. This is also why theJapanese space agencyJapanese space agency plans to send a probe there in two years, with the Franco-German rover Idéfix on board.

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