![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Phobos-Moon-Mars-800x420.jpg\")
The Martain moon of Phobos flies over a canyon area of the planet called Kasei Vallest. The image was taken by the European Space Agency\u2019s Mars Express. | Image via ESA \/ DLR \/ FUBerlin \/ Andrea Luck (CC BY 4.0). <\/p>\n The Martain moon of Phobos flies over a canyon area of the planet called Kasei Vallest. The image was taken by the European Space Agency\u2019s Mars Express. | Image via ESA \/ DLR \/ FUBerlin \/ Andrea Luck (CC BY 4.0). <\/p>\n
Newly-released photos by the European Space Agency have captured the oddly-shaped Martian moon of Phobos flying above a dust storm raging below on the Red Planet. <\/p>\n
If Phobos looks close to the surface in the photos and videos, that\u2019s because it is. At 3,700 miles (6,000 kilometers), Phobos orbits closer to its planet than any other known moon. It completes an orbit of Mars in just seven hours and 39 minutes, much faster than the Red Planet rotates. <\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/54997401734_eb1f80fbf4_k-800x429.jpg\")
Three volcanoes, Ascraeus Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Arsia Mons, can be seen below Phobos as the moon flies 3,700 miles above. Part of Valles Marineris can be seen at the bottom right. | Image via ESA\/ DLR\/ FUBerlin\/ Andrea Luck (CC BY 4.0). <\/p>\n
EarthSky reports<\/a> that the new images of Phobos were taken in June and released in December. But the images you see on this page aren\u2019t how they came out of the Mars Express, the orbiter that took the photos. <\/p>\n They were processed by Andrea Luck, who is highly respected in astronomy for his unique image processing of celestial images. Luck shared them to his Flickr page<\/a>, where as well as Phobos, you can also see three volcanoes that sit on the Tharsis plateau region of Mars: Ascraeus Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Arsia Mons. <\/p>\n In a video shared by Luck, Phobos can be seen drifting above Pavonis Mons as a dust storm rages on its slopes. Pavonis Mons is part of Valles Marineris<\/a>, a 2,000-mile-long, 300-mile-wide, and five-mile-deep canyon dubbed \u2018the Grand Canyon of Mars.\u2019 Although that doesn\u2019t do it justice since it is many times bigger than the Grand Canyon in Arizona. <\/p>\n Luck also shared a high-resolution, zoomable version of the image here<\/a> on the website Easy Zoom. <\/p>\n