NASA’s Hubble telescope is known for taking some of the most amazing photographs of the celestial bodies, and this is what happened when recently it took photos of Mars. But it did capture more than just Mars.
After taking series of 13 different pictures of the planet, astronomers realized that besides Mars they have also captured Phobos – one of the moons of Mars also made an appearance in the images.
The photos were rendered as a time lapse which shows the movement of Phobos in the background and provides us a clear view of the size of Phobos as compared to Mars. Phobos is only 16.5 wide at max and when compared to Mars it seems as a piece of dust.
Despite its small size Phobos is extremely interesting. It is really fast as it completes its orbit in only eight hours. In fact, it is so fast that it orbits around the mars three times before Mars has even completed its one orbit. It is the only moon in the solar system that can perform this amazing feat.
NASA and other space agencies have spent countless hours studying Mars and its moons, and they are still not sure from where its moons – Phobos and Deimos came from. They were thought to be asteroids that were captured by the planet’s gravity, some researchers believe the moons to be collections of dust and debris that was circling the planet and eventually formed oblong moons.
Below is a video from NASA showing the images and history about the Phobos.
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