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Curiosity Observes Phobos Eclipse: Sol
2359: This series of images
shows the Martian moon Phobos as it crossed in front of the Sun, as seen by
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on Tuesday, March 26, 2019 (Sol 2359). Image
credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.
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Ken Kremer --SpaceUpClose.com &
RocketSTEM –30 April 2019
CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – In recent weeks NASA’s Curiosity rover has occasionally trained its camera eyes skywards instead of ground wards and captured a batch of stunning new solar eclipse images of both of the Red Planets tiny moons – namely Phobos and Deimos - eclipsing our sun.
And because its Mars, these Martian Solar Eclipses are completely different from our Solar Eclipses and because of their different orbits and shapes they are also completely different from one another.
Curiosity is able to directly photograph the Sun without damaging the Mast Camera (Mastcam) because it is equipped with special solar filters.
CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – In recent weeks NASA’s Curiosity rover has occasionally trained its camera eyes skywards instead of ground wards and captured a batch of stunning new solar eclipse images of both of the Red Planets tiny moons – namely Phobos and Deimos - eclipsing our sun.
And because its Mars, these Martian Solar Eclipses are completely different from our Solar Eclipses and because of their different orbits and shapes they are also completely different from one another.
Curiosity is able to directly photograph the Sun without damaging the Mast Camera (Mastcam) because it is equipped with special solar filters.
Phobos, which is as wide as 16 miles (26 kilometers) across, was
imaged on March 26, 2019 (Sol 2359 of Curiosity's mission); Deimos, which is as
wide as 10 miles (16 kilometers) across, was photographed on March 17, 2019
(Sol 2350).
The Phobos gif animation above was imaged using Mastcams right-eye solar filter. The images have been sped up by a factor of 10; the entire eclipse lasted about 35 seconds.
Likewise the Diemos gif animation was imaged with Mastcam right. The images have been sped up by a factor of 10 and the transit lasted several minutes.
Because the moons are so tiny and distant they don’t completely cover the Sun, during the eclipses.
Thus the eclipse by Phobos can considered an annular eclipse.
Diemos is even smaller and thus can be considered as transiting the Sun – much like Mercury transits the Sun as seen from Earth.
The Phobos gif animation above was imaged using Mastcams right-eye solar filter. The images have been sped up by a factor of 10; the entire eclipse lasted about 35 seconds.
Likewise the Diemos gif animation was imaged with Mastcam right. The images have been sped up by a factor of 10 and the transit lasted several minutes.
Because the moons are so tiny and distant they don’t completely cover the Sun, during the eclipses.
Thus the eclipse by Phobos can considered an annular eclipse.
Diemos is even smaller and thus can be considered as transiting the Sun – much like Mercury transits the Sun as seen from Earth.
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Curiosity Observes Deimos 'Eclipse':
Sol 2350: This series of
images shows the Martian moon Deimos as it crossed in front of the Sun, as seen
by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on Sunday, March 17, 2019 (the 2,350th Martian
day, or sol, of the mission). Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
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In addition to being lovely, the solar eclipse observation of
the Mars two moon serve a wonderful scientific purpose – they help determine and
refine the exact orbits of each one around the Red Planet which were not precisely
known in the past.
“Before the Spirit and Opportunity rovers landed in 2004, there was much higher uncertainty in the orbit of each moon, said Mark Lemmon of Texas A&M University, College Station, a co-investigator with Curiosity's Mastcam. The first time one of the rovers tried to image Deimos eclipsing the Sun, they found the moon was 25 miles (40 kilometers) away from where they expected,” NASA said in a statement.
"More observations over time help pin down the details of each orbit," Lemmon said.
"Those orbits change all the time in response to the gravitational pull of Mars, Jupiter or even each Martian moon pulling on the other."
“Before the Spirit and Opportunity rovers landed in 2004, there was much higher uncertainty in the orbit of each moon, said Mark Lemmon of Texas A&M University, College Station, a co-investigator with Curiosity's Mastcam. The first time one of the rovers tried to image Deimos eclipsing the Sun, they found the moon was 25 miles (40 kilometers) away from where they expected,” NASA said in a statement.
"More observations over time help pin down the details of each orbit," Lemmon said.
"Those orbits change all the time in response to the gravitational pull of Mars, Jupiter or even each Martian moon pulling on the other."
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Curiosity Observes Sunset Eclipse: Sol
2358: This series of
images shows the shadow of Phobos as it sweeps over NASA's Curiosity Mars rover
and darkens the sunlight on Monday, March 25, 2019 (Sol 2358). Image credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech
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Curiosity Observes Phobos Eclipse: Sol
2359: This image shows the
Martian moon Phobos as it crossed in front of the Sun, as seen by NASA's
Curiosity Mars rover on Tuesday, March 26, 2019 (Sol 2359). Image credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
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Curiosity Observes Deimos 'Eclipse':
Sol 2350: This images shows
the Martian moon Deimos as it crossed in front of the Sun, as seen by NASA's
Curiosity Mars rover on Sunday, March 17, 2019 (Sol 2350). Image credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.
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The car sized
rover has recently moved on from Vera Rubin Ridge to her new Red Planet home
and next area of investigation - previously dubbed the ‘clay-bearing unit’ and
now renamed ‘Glen Torridon’.
‘Glen Torridon’ sits in a trough just south of the ridge. Clay minerals in this unit may hold more clues about the ancient lakes that helped form the lower levels on Mount Sharp.
As of today, Sol 2393, Apr 30, 2019 Curiosity has driven over 12.70 miles (20.44 kilometers) since its August 2012 landing inside Gale Crater from the landing site to Mount Sharp and taken over 569,500 amazing images.
Following the demise of the Opportunity rover killed by a planet encircling dust storm after 15 exciting years of exploration, Curiosity is NASA’s only function rover operating on the Red Planet.
The stationary InSight lander also continues science operations and recently recorded the first ‘Marsquakes’ as we reported here.
Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.
‘Glen Torridon’ sits in a trough just south of the ridge. Clay minerals in this unit may hold more clues about the ancient lakes that helped form the lower levels on Mount Sharp.
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| NASA’s Curiosity rover departs Vera Rubin Ridge and head towards the next exploration site called the Clay Bearing Unit - seen in this mosaic of images from the navigation camera. This navcam camera mosaic was stitched from raw images taken on Sol 2298, Jan. 23, 2019 and colorized. Credit: NASA/JPL/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com |
As of today, Sol 2393, Apr 30, 2019 Curiosity has driven over 12.70 miles (20.44 kilometers) since its August 2012 landing inside Gale Crater from the landing site to Mount Sharp and taken over 569,500 amazing images.
Following the demise of the Opportunity rover killed by a planet encircling dust storm after 15 exciting years of exploration, Curiosity is NASA’s only function rover operating on the Red Planet.
The stationary InSight lander also continues science operations and recently recorded the first ‘Marsquakes’ as we reported here.
Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.
Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com
Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area, active in outreach and interviewed regularly on TV and radio about space topics.
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Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events
Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events
Ken’s upcoming outreach events:
Learn more about the upcoming/recent SpaceX Falcon 9/CRS-17 launch to ISS, Falcon Heavy, SpaceX Demo-1 launch/test failure, SpaceX Beresheet launch, NASA missions, ULA Atlas & Delta launches, Northrop Grumman Antares, SpySats and more at Ken’s upcoming outreach events at Quality Inn Kennedy Space Center, Titusville, FL, evenings:
Learn more about the upcoming/recent SpaceX Falcon 9/CRS-17 launch to ISS, Falcon Heavy, SpaceX Demo-1 launch/test failure, SpaceX Beresheet launch, NASA missions, ULA Atlas & Delta launches, Northrop Grumman Antares, SpySats and more at Ken’s upcoming outreach events at Quality Inn Kennedy Space Center, Titusville, FL, evenings:
May
2/3/4: “SpaceX Falcon 9 CRS-17
resupply launch to ISS, Demo-1, Beresheet launches, SpaceX Falcon Heavy launches, upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9, ULA, NRO
& USAF Spysats, SLS, Orion, Boeing and SpaceX Commercial crew capsules,
OSIRIS-Rex, InSight Mars lander, Curiosity and Opportunity explore Mars, NH at
Pluto, Ultima Thule and more,” Kennedy Space Center Quality Inn, Titusville,
FL, evenings. Photos for sale
