Phobos Eclipse Animation Options

[mars loon]

A beautiful new animation of Phobos "Lunar" Eclipse is here from Cornell/JPL: 12/5/2005

November 27, 2005

Pancam Animation at 10 sec intervals

PIA03611: Spirit Movie of Phobos Eclipse, Sol 675

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03611

Spirit Phobos Eclipse Animation

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit observed the Martian moon Phobos entering the shadow of Mars during the night of the rover's 675th sol (Nov. 27, 2005). The panoramic camera captured 16 images, spaced 10 seconds apart, covering the period from when Phobos was in full sunlight to when it was entirely in shadow. As with our own Moon during lunar eclipses on Earth, even when in the planet's shadow, Phobos was not entirely dark. The small amount of light still visible from Phobos is a kind of "Mars-shine" -- sunlight reflected through Mars' atmosphere and into the shadowed region.

This clip is a sequence of the 16 images showing the eclipse at about 10 times normal speed. It shows the movement of Phobos from left to right as the moon enters the shadow. Scientists are using information about the precise timing of Martian moon eclipses gained from observations such as these to refine calculations about the orbital path of Phobos. The precise position of Phobos will be important to any future spacecraft taking detailed pictures of the moon or landing on its surface.


and more here ...


PIA03612: Spirit View of Phobos Eclipse, Sol 675

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03612

Annotated Spirit View of Phobos Eclipse, Sol 675


This view is a time-lapse composite of images taken 20 seconds apart, showing the movement of Phobos from left to right. (At 10 seconds apart, the images of the moon overlap each other.) Scientists are using information about the precise timing of Martian moon eclipses gained from observations such as these to refine calculations about the orbital path of Phobos. The precise position of Phobos will be important to any future spacecraft taking detailed pictures of the moon or landing on its surface.

[jvandriel]

and here is a small gif of a Spirit Observation with the L1 pancam on Sol 682.

jvandriel

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[ljk4-1]

and here is a small gif of a Spirit Observation with the L1 pancam on Sol 682.

jvandriel

Is that a daytime shot of Phobos? What are those objects to the left of it?

Here are four frames of this "movie":

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/spirit_p682.html

Amazing.

[mars loon]

Is that a daytime shot of Phobos?  What are those objects to the left of it?

Here are four frames of this "movie":

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/spirit_p682.html

Amazing.

Yes. That is Phobos rising (About 5:10 a.m. local time). With Diemos to the left.

I heard back directly from the Cornell imaging team. At this time, they speculate the other objects to be cosmic rays !!

Jan; Great work on that animation.

[jvandriel]

Thanks Ken.


jan van driel

[jvandriel]

Ken,

here is another animation taken by Spirit on Sol 692 with the L8 pancam.

It is a sequence of 18 images and the time interval is 0.50 seconds.

Is this Phobos again with internal reflection inside the camera?

Maybe you can explain it.

jvandriel

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[mars loon]

here is another animation taken by Spirit on Sol 692 with the L8 pancam.

It is a sequence of 18 images and the time interval is 0.50 seconds.

Is this Phobos again with internal reflection inside the camera?

Yes, Spirit did overnight Phobos/Diemos observations.

[ljk4-1]

Have they made any attempts to look for *new* moons of Mars? Are the rovers' cameras capable of such a task?

I was wondering about this, considering how small Phobos and Deimos are, maybe there are even smaller moons around the Red Planet that we cannot see from Earth.

Would any of the orbiters also be up to the task?

Hey, Pluto just got two new moons, why not Mars?

[um3k]

Ken,

here is another animation taken by Spirit on Sol 692 with the L8 pancam.

It is a sequence of 18 images and the time interval is 0.50 seconds.

Is this Phobos again with internal reflection inside the camera?

Maybe you can explain it.

jvandriel

There is no way that could be Phobos. L8 is a neutral density filter, that's the sun.

[edstrick]

Both Mariner 9 and especially the Vikings did moon searches. I believe the upper limit for moons in plausible orbits is something like 50 to 100 meters. Smaller objects are unlikely to survive due to impact erosion. There could be ejecta from Phobos or Deimos, but they tend to be re-accreted relatively rapidly.

[mars loon]

There is no way that could be Phobos. L8 is a neutral density filter, that's the sun.

Ooops, a looney mistake

That is the sun, along with some ghost images of the Sun.

Phobos is in some other images from sol 691