Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Curiosiity Captures Eclipse

The camera atop the mast of the Curiosity rover, meant to take panoramuc views of the surrounding surface, has also done a bit of basic astronomy, documenting a solar eclipse by Mars' larger moon, Phobos.

At 14 miles across, Phobos isn't big enough to completely block the Sun during an eclipse like Earth's Moon does, but that only emphasizes the fact that Curiosity is not in Kansas.  Documenting such eclipses also allows scientists to refine the orbit of Phobos, and, eventuually, the orbit of Mars' second, smaller moon, Deimos.

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