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 November 18.
Planetary scientist Paul Byrne published the scene on his Twitter account, commenting: “This is a partial solar eclipse seen from the surface of Mars on Friday.”
This isn’t 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 among the two moons that revolve around the red planet, and the other moon is called Deimos.
The surface of Phobos is characterized by pits and grooves and is 17 miles (27 km) wide at its widest, and the moon orbits near Mars in a relationship that is likely to lead to its destruction one day, millions of years from now.
The Perseverance spacecraft captured the eclipse scene while it was roaming through the Jezero Crater, a wonderful area with a watery history.
The rover is collecting rock samples from the area, searching for evidence of ancient microbial life and studying the landscape.