A timelapse of photos charm by NASA ’s Perseverance rover shows a spectacular solar occultation asdoomed moon Phoboscrosses the Sun .
Solar occultation on Earth decent now are striking to look at – we happen to be living at just the correct moment in prison term toobservethe Sun and the Moon appearing roughly the same size in the sky . While the Sun ’s diameter is about 400 times larger than the Moon ’s , it also happens to be about 400 time further out from the Earth , work them about the same size of it in the sky from our view . However , 4 billion years ago , before the Moon drifted to its current electron orbit , it would have appeared aboutthree times as bigas it is now in the sky – and around600 million yearsfrom now , the Moon will stray too far to cover the Sun entirely .
Any planet or minor major planet with a moon can have an eclipse , with the spoilt ( in the Solar System , that we know of ) credibly occur on Pluto . There , the Sun seem like abright star in the skywhile its largest moon , Charon , looks about four time larger than our own .
On other organic structure , moons may be too small or distant to dominate the Sun entirely , meaning they can only witness a fond occultation . Mars , with two moon to choose from , still produces quite the spectacle . The Perseverance rover captured one such eclipse as Phobos pass across the Sun on February 8 , 2024 .
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As well as being nice to gawp at , observing them closely can distinguish us about Mars and its moons .
" Each clip these eclipses are maintain , they allow scientists to appraise elusive shifts in Phobos ’ area over time,“NASA explainedafter a premature eclipse in 2022 . " The moonshine ’s tidal forces pull on the cryptical midland incrustation and cape of the Red Planet ; studying how much Phobos shifts over time reveals something about how resistant the crust and mantle are , and thus what kinds of material they ’re made of . "
We now know that Phobos – the close of Mars ' two moons – is set to get ever close to the planet , beforecrashing into Marsin 50 million years or break into a tintinnabulation , while Deimos will be adrift ever outwards until it leave Mars ' orbit .
