Percy Sees An 'Eclipse' of Earth, From Mars
Sure. It may not look like much. But sometimes, the 'wow' factor in an image lies in knowing just what you're seeing. While most of us are eagerly awaiting Wednesday’s total solar eclipse across the North Atlantic and Spain, robotic emissaries on the Martian surface have recently given us a look at an astronomical occlusion of a different sort, as Phobos crossed in front of Earth.
The Perseverance rover captured a rare event on Mars - Earth being partially obscured by the Martian moon Phobos. While most are excited for an upcoming total solar eclipse in the North Atlantic and Spain, the rover has provided a unique perspective on another type of astronomical occlusion. The event took place on July 2nd (Mars sol 1907) at 7pm local solar time, as observed by the rover's Mastcam-Z imager.
Nine images, taken over a period of 10 seconds, show Phobos crossing in front of Earth while the rover is in Jezero crater.
In the composite image, Earth appears as a single-pixel, -2 magnitude star, while Phobos is a sunlit oblong crescent. The tiny moon, about 12th magnitude, orbits Mars once every 7.5 hours at a distance of just 7,800 kilometers from the planet's surface - the closest for any moon in the solar system. This unique view from Mars could help refine the known orbits of the Martian moons, aiding researchers in understanding their evolution over time.
Future missions, like Japan's Mars Moon Explorer (MMX) and Russia's Mars-Grunt 'Boomerang', plan to visit Phobos, offering more opportunities for such observations.
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