Previous rovers captured a solar eclipse in black and white. Footage from the Perseverance is the first to show a Phobos solar eclipse in color.
About a Phobos solar eclipse
The eclipse took place on the 397th day after Perseverance landed on Mars and it only lasted a little over 40 seconds.
Typical solar eclipses that involve Earth’s Moon last longer. This is because Phobos is about 157 times smaller than our Moon. And at that size, there can only be a partial solar eclipse. Phobos is too small to ever completely cover the sun.
Mars is a two-moon planet. And Phobos is the largest moon at 17 x 14 x 11 miles (27 by 22 by 18 kilometers) in diameter.
Unlike our moon, Phobos is shaped like a potato.
This moon closely orbits Mars three times a day. It appears so close to the planet’s surface that in some locations on Mars it is not even visible.
Mark Lemmon, project director for the Phobos observations works with the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado as a planetary astronomer. He is happy with the video images that are being, percent sent by the Perseverance rover.
