Sunlight Shines on Mars Moon in Detailed New Photos from Orbiter

A brief spacecraft encounter with the Martian moon Phobos shows off the tiny world's surface in detail.

The European Mars Express mission, in orbit around the Red Planet, recently glimpsed Phobos as the moon passed by at a distance of 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers). While that's a faraway look, Mars Express is the only spacecraft that can get a glimpse of Phobos right now.

Mars Express snagged 41 images of Phobos on Nov. 17, showing craters, marks, and even long furrows or scratches on the surface. "The image sequence shows Phobos at a number of angles — the moon can be seen rotating and slowly lightens up before it begins to darken again," the European Space Agency said in a statement. (The image sequence also shows a slight oscillation from spacecraft movements.)

Video: See the Awesome New Views of Phobos from Mars Express!
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Mars's larger moon, Phobos, is a cratered, asteroid-like object. (Image credit: NASA)

Clearly visible are a number of features. One is Stickney Crater, which takes up nearly half of Phobos' 16-mile (26 km) diameter. The spacecraft also imaged the furrows, in hopes of further unveiling how these features formed. The current thinking is that debris or the tug of Mars' gravity on Phobos could have made these scratches.

The science team said it was especially pleased that Mars Express nabbed images of Phobos from several "phase angles," meaning the angle between the light source (which was the sun) and the observing spacecraft.

"Images acquired across a range of phase angles … are incredibly useful for scientists," ESA added. "Different shadows are cast as the sun's position changes relative to the target object: This illuminates and highlights the surface features and enables calculations of feature height, depth and relief and reveals much about the roughness, porosity and reflectivity of the surface material itself."

The spacecraft will get its next chance to capture images of Phobos in such direct solar light in April and September.

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Elizabeth Howell
Staff Writer, Spaceflight

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace