The video, which lasts about 40 seconds, shows the passage of the larger of the two known moons of the red planet, Phobos, across the sun’s disk.
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According to JPL, the automatic explorer took the picture with the help of the “new generation camera” Mastcam-Z on April 2, ie on the 397th Mars Day (408th Earth Day) of its mission on the neighboring planet.
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An “eclipse” on Mars takes place for a much shorter time than this phenomenon typically lasts on Earth, and the Sun is not overshadowed at all, only partially, even relatively little. Phobos is 157 times smaller than our Moon. The next month of Mars, Deimos, is even smaller, JPL recalls.
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“These observations can help scientists better understand the orbit of Phobos and how its gravity affects the surface of Mars, which ultimately forms the crust and mantle of the red planet,” JPL explained the significance of the video.
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“I knew it was going to be good, but I didn’t expect it to be so amazing,” said Rachel Howson of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, USA, a member of the Mastcam-Z team that operates the camera.
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An eclipse on Mars in 2004
Photographs of solar eclipses on Mars were taken in 2004 by a pair of robotic vehicles NASA Spirit and Opportunity, later continued by another rover Curiosity.
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However, Perseverance has provided the closest video yet of Phobos crossing the star disk of our planetary system. In addition, with the highest frame rate yet.
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Perseverance landed on Mars last February 18 in Lake Crater. According to scientists, 3.5 billion years ago there was water there, which is why traces of possible former life could be preserved there. The mission’s main goal is to look for signs of possible past, not present, life on Mars.
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