Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Solarsystem Collection
title:
Two Moons Passing in the Night
description:
Taking advantage of extra solar energy collected during the day, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit settled in for an evening of stargazing, photographing the two moons of Mars as they crossed the night sky. "It is incredibly cool to be running an observatory on another planet," said planetary scientist Jim Bell of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., lead scientist for the panoramic cameras on Spirit and Opportunity. In this animation, both martian moons, Deimos on the left and Phobos on the right, travel across the night sky in front of the constellation Sagittarius. Part of Sagittarius resembles an upside-down teapot. Phobos is the brighter object on the right; Deimos is on the left.

Spirit acquired these enhanced-brightness images with the panoramic camera on the night of sol 585 (Aug. 26, 2005). Scientists will use images of the two moons to better map their orbital positions, learn more about their composition, and monitor the presence of nighttime clouds or haze. Spirit took the six images that make up this animation using the camera's broadband filter, which was designed specifically for acquiring images under low-light conditions.

*Image credit:* NASA/JPL/Cornell/ Texas A&M
date:
08.26.2005
keywords:
Solar System Exploration
keywords:
SSE
keywords:
Space
keywords:
NASA
keywords:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
keywords:
JPL
keywords:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
keywords:
Planets
facet_what:
Mars
facet_what:
Spirit
facet_what:
Opportunity
facet_what:
Panoramic Camera
facet_what:
Sagittarius
facet_what:
Mars Exploration Rover (MER)
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
facet_where:
Mars
facet_where:
Texas
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_when:
08-26-2005
facet_when_year:
2005
UID:
SPD-SLRSY-4063
original url:

Two Moons Passing in the Night