NASA releases stunning video from Phobos’ durable submarine on the Moon on Mars passing by the Sun during a Solar Eclipse

You may have seen eclipses before — but not eclipses like this one.

NASA has released stunning footage showing Phobos, one of Mars’ two moons, passing by the sun on Wednesday. The video was captured on April 2 by Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z high-definition camera, allowing it to capture the clearest, most magnified video of a lunar eclipse on Mars to date.

Rachel Howson of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego and one of the people who run Mastcam-Z, said in a NASA press release, “I knew it was going to be good, but I didn’t expect it to be this great. .

Besides the amazing quality, the video is also remarkable for the colors. A solar filter on the Mastcam-Z reduces light intensity, allowing it to capture details of the potato-shaped moon that you can’t see with the naked eye.

Mark Lemmon, a planetary astronomer with the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado and who has led most observations of Phobos on Mars, “You can see the details in the silhouette shape. by Phobos. rovers, said in the release. “You can also see the black spots. And it’s great that you can see this eclipse exactly as the rover has seen it from Mars.”

It’s not just a fun video. The researchers now hope that the footage will give them insights into Phobos’s orbit, how it affects Mars’ gravity, and the shape of the planet’s crust and mantle. pure. It also gives scientists a glimpse into the moon’s eventual demise.

Yes, collapse: Phobos is in a “death spiral,” destined to crash into the Red Planet in a few tens of millions of years, according to the release. Eclipse videos help scientists better understand the apocalypse of this slow-moving planet.

Hopefully, with the help of Perseverance, we’ll be able to find elusive evidence of life on ancient Mars before it happens.