Perseverance rover, currently roaming the red, rocky surface of Mars, captured a video of the partial eclipse in the atmosphere as Phobos crossed in front of the Sun, giving the illusion of what NASA referred to as 'googly eye'. The potato-shaped Martian moon was passing directly between the Sun and a point on the surface of Mars, obscuring a large part of the Sun's disc when it was clicked by Perseverance's Mastcam-Z camera on its 1,285th day (September 30) on the Red Planet.
"Ever feel like someone's watching you? That's how I felt when I observed this transit of the Martian moon Phobos! The pupil in this "googly eye" is the potato-shaped moon, and the iris is our Sun," the X (formerly Twitter) handle of Perseverance captioned the intriguing video.
Since landing at Mars' Jezero Crater in February 2021, Perseverance has captured several Phobos transits. Curiosity captured a video in 2019 while Opportunity captured an image in 2004.
About Phobos
Phobos was discovered in 1877 by Asaph Hall who named it based on the mythological sons of Ares, the Greek counterpart of the Roman god, Mars. Phobos means fear and is the brother of Deimos.
Phobos is larger than Deimos, measuring 27 by 22 by 18 kilometres in diameter. It orbits Mars three times a day and is so close to the planet's surface that in some locations on Mars it cannot always be seen.
Phobos' proximity to Mars means it is set on a collision course with the Red Planet. It is nearing Mars at a rate of six feet (1.8 meters) every hundred years which means it will either crash into Mars in 50 million years or break up into a ring.
Also read | Scientists Discover Mysterious Structures Hidden Under The Surface of Mars
Sign of life on Mars
In July this year, the rover discovered an intriguing rock sample, nicknamed "Cheyava Falls," which contains organic molecules and structures that could have been formed by microbial life.
''The rock exhibits chemical signatures and structures that could possibly have been formed by life billions of years ago when the area being explored by the rover contained running water,'' NASA said at the time.
