NASA's Perseverance rover captures video of solar eclipse on Mars

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has captured dramatic footage of Phobos, Mars' potato-shaped moon, crossing the face of the Sun. Scientists can use these observations to better understand the moon and how its gravity affects the Red Planet.

The eclipse lasted a little over 40 seconds, much shorter than a typical solar eclipse involving Earth. The Moon is about the same size as Phobos. The moon of Mars is even smaller.

The images are the latest in a long history of NASA capturing solar eclipses on Mars. The first time-lapse photos of Phobos were taken by the twin NASA rovers in 2004. The videos were shot by the Mastcam camera system.

Perseverance has provided the most zoom-in video of a Phobos solar eclipse yet, and at the highest frame rate. Perseverance's Mastcam-Z camera system is a zoomable upgrade from the Mastcam.

"I knew it was going to be good, but I didn't expect it to be this amazing." said Rachel Howson, one of the team members who operates the camera.

It feels like a birthday or holiday when the full-resolution versions arrive, as Howson noted that Perseverance first sends lower-resolution thumbnails that offer a glimpse of the images to come. When you get to see the final product, there is still an element of surprise.

The Phobos solar eclipse is different due to its color. Mark Lemmon, a planetary astronomer, said that Mastcam-Z has a solar filter that acts like sunglasses to reduce light intensity. You can see the eclipse exactly as the rover saw it on Mars.

As Phobos circles Mars, its gravity exerts small tidal forces on the Red Planet's interior. The forces are slowly changing Phobos. Changes to the interior of Mars can be used to better understand the materials within the mantle and crust.

The moon is going to crash into the planet tens of millions of years from now, and scientists know that. Over the last two decades, eclipse observations from the surface of Mars have allowed scientists to better understand Phobos.

More information: For more about Perseverance: mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/ Citation: NASA's Perseverance rover captures video of solar eclipse on Mars (2022, April 20) retrieved 20 April 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-04-nasa-perseverance-rover-captures-video.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.