NASA's Perseverance Rover has provided us with a unique skywatching experience. The tiny Mars moon Deimos twinkling in the dusty Red Planet sky is a result of NASA's Perseverance Rover.
Skywatching is fun regardless of where you live. "I took this time-lapse video to look for clouds, and I also saw Deimos, one the two moons of Mars. Perseverance team members shared their thoughts via Twitter on Friday, August 20.
Perseverance was the rover that landed in Jezero Crater's 28-mile (45 km) diameter in February. It is usually focused on studying Red Planet rocks, dirt, and minerals. After all, the main tasks of the rover are to search for signs of ancient Mars life, and collect dozens of samples for future return.
Photos: NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover mission to the Red Planet
NASA's Mars Rover Perseverance captured the tiny moon Deimos on Mars. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
The rover does occasionally look up, but not to observe clouds. Perseverance was there to document the first flights of NASA's Ingenuity helicopter, a 4-pound (1.8-kg) companion. Although Ingenuity, the pioneering little chopper, is still in operation, Perseverance started focusing on its science work a few month ago.
Deimos is 7.7 miles wide (12.4 km), and orbits 14,576 (23,458km) above Mars. It completes a nearly circular loop around the planet each 30 hours. Phobos, Mars' second moon, orbits at an altitude just 5,738 miles (9.234 km) and is approximately 14 miles (22km) in diameter. Astronomers believe that both satellites were captured by Mars' gravity.
The Earth's moon measures 2,159 miles (3,475km) in width and is located 238,900 miles (384.470 km) away from Earth on average. Scientists believe that the material responsible for our moon's formation was blasted into space during a titanic collision over 4.4 billion years ago. This collision involved Theia, a Mars-sized body, and proto-Earth.
NASA Mars rovers have seen glimpses of its two small moons before. Curiosity, for example, has taken multiple photos of Deimos and Phobos since it touched down on Gale Crater's floor in August 2012. Curiosity has captured amazing time-lapse videos showing each moon passing before the sun, which can cause partial solar eclipses.
