Space14 October 2022

Our Solar System is out there beyond the pale blue sky every hour of the day. Sometimes, if we're in the right place at the right time, we can see things from a different point of view.

It was in the right place at the right time and we couldn't be more thankful.

The European Space Agency's Mars Express probe caught an eclipse with the smaller Martian moon and Jupiter with its four moons.

When Mars was separated from its giant planetary neighbour, the Jovian system looked like a happy family.

The alignment of these bodies was captured on camera in a series of 80 images that were then used to make a movie.

The alignment is very unusual because Deimos must be in the plane of Jupiter's moons for it to happen.

The video shows Deimos moving across the screen from left to right. The disk of Jupiter is followed by the volcanic moon Io and then Callisto, the second largest of Jupiter's moons.

Since the Martian moons are so small and dim, it's difficult to measure the position of Deimos. It's important to understand where they came from. It is not known if the larger of the two moons, Phobos, was once part of a larger body that broke apart or if it was captured by Mars' gravity.

Scientists will be able to better model what will happen to Mars' moons in the future with better characterization of their orbits. Scientists think Phobos will be so close to Mars that it will tear the moon to smithereens within 100 million years.

The other side of the planet is moving away from it. Scientists think that it will eventually escape Mars' hold and make its own way in the big wide Solar System.

There is nothing lasts forever. There isn't a relationship between a planet and its moons.