Robot Curiosity owned agency NASA Space flight and re-send the photos interesting. This time, the six-wheeled robot is to send photos when Phobos, moon of Mars, the Sun bite.
The photos were taken during the solar eclipse on 13 September 2012 last. Unlike a solar eclipse known to man, the eclipse is not caused by the Moon, but by Phobos, one of the moons of Mars.
Curiosity took the images with the camera in the right arm and left hand. A total of 100 images taken eclipse but not all of them sent to the person in charge of the mission on Earth.
In one photo, Phobos appears "bite" Sun. "Phobos
grazed the Sun. This is a partial solar eclipse in fact," said Mark
Lemmon, an astronomer at Texas AM & M University, as quoted by AP,
Wednesday (09/19/2012).
The solar eclipse on Mars is actually a common phenomenon, even more often than Earth. This is because Mars have more moons around. However, it remains interesting shots Curiosity.
In
addition to the matter of photographs, Curiosity also makes astronomers
back to thinking about the structure of the planet Mars. As happened on Earth, the moons of Mars can also influence the shape of the planet slightly.
Phobos known to move more slowly. While Deimos, the moons of Mars, moving faster. In the 10-15 million years, Phobos will move closer to Mars and eventually thrown off by the gravitational effects of Mars.
Eclipse of the Sun by Phobos orbit and help astronomers predict velocity changes. This information is needed to make educated guesses how big Mars will change when approaching month.
Curiosity has actually examined the rocks Mars mission and determine the possibility of Mars to support life. Robot reaches the red planet August 5, 2012 and that today (21/09/2012) initiated a Mars rock.
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