One of the two tiny moons of Mars in new photographs * Those who watch the planet Mars can notice a body about a third the size of our moon, sailing at high speed, this is Phobos ("fear" in Greek)
Avi Blizovsky
Photo: NASA
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From the Year of Mars - Peak of Fear 10, by Noah Brosh
Those who observe the planet Mars can notice a body about a third the size of our moon, sailing at high speed. This is Phobos ("fear" in Greek) - a tiny moon 27 km long, whose face is covered with craters.
In one part of it is a huge crater, evidence of the impact it probably received from a meteor. In the opposite part (in the photo) parallel grooves are visible - probably another evidence of the same impact in which the entire moon literally cracked.
While the length of the day on Mars is very close to that of Earth, Phobos, which is about 6,000 km from Mars, orbits it only every eight hours. "Fear" is not alone: Mars is surrounded by another moon with a mysterious name - Deimos ("fear" in Greek).
Hence the original news
* One of the two tiny moons of Mars stars in new photographs released yesterday by the US space agency. The moons were photographed by the Global Surveyor spacecraft on June 1.
One of the photographs shows the moon Phobos, which looks like a potato, in great detail. In the second photograph, the moon appears as a tiny dot sinking below the horizon of Mars.
Phobos and Mars' second moon, Deimos, are likely asteroids that were pulled by Mars' gravity and entered orbit around it. Phobos orbits the planet three times a day, at an average distance of 9,324 kilometers. If one could stand on Phobos and look at the sky, Mars would fill most of one's field of vision
Ydan Mars
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