NASA's Perseverance rover was able to photograph the miniature moon Deimos as it explored the planet. The object in the photograph
“Sky Watching — fascinatingactivity wherever you are. We took this short time-lapse to look at the clouds and caught something else: Look closely and you can see Deimos, one of the two moons of Mars,” the Perseverance team wrote on the mission’s official Twitter account.
Perseverance, which landed in Februaryin the Jezero crater, 45 km wide, usually studies rocks and mud of the Red Planet. The main tasks of the rover are to search for signs of ancient life on Mars and collect dozens of samples for subsequent return to Earth.
Sky watching is fun no matter where you are. I took this short time lapse movie to watch for clouds, and caught something else: look closely and you’ll see Deimos, one of two moons of Mars.
More on this tiny moon: https://t.co/TzHMc0aIS3 pic.twitter.com/akfbhfsw33
— NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) August 20, 2021
Deimos, 12.4 km wide, orbits in23458 km above Mars, making one circle around the planet every 30 hours. The other moon of Mars, Phobos, has a diameter of about 22 km and orbits at an altitude of only 9234 km. Most astronomers believe that both moons are asteroids that were captured by the gravity of Mars.
NASA rovers have photographed two beforetiny planet moons. For example, Curiosity has captured many images of Phobos and Deimos since landing at the bottom of Gale Crater in August 2012. Curiosity's images include an amazing time-lapse video of each moon passing in front of the Sun, causing partial solar eclipses.
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