{"id":296738,"date":"2025-07-27T20:27:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T20:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/296738\/"},"modified":"2025-07-27T20:27:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T20:27:12","slug":"nasa-spacecraft-snaps-a-rare-photo-of-mars-and-its-moons-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/296738\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA spacecraft snaps a rare photo of Mars and its moons together"},"content":{"rendered":"

On its long journey to the outer solar system, NASA<\/a>\u2019s Europa Clipper<\/a> spacecraft made a planned detour \u2014 and seized a striking photo opportunity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a single frame, the uncrewed Europa Clipper caught Mars<\/a> alongside both of its tiny moons, Phobos<\/a> and Deimos<\/a>, as they waltzed through space<\/a>, all glowing in infrared light.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The image, presented below, is more than a pretty picture. It offers a rare look at a planetary trio not often seen together, and it provided mission engineers a crucial chance to fine-tune the spacecraft\u2019s thermal camera as it zipped past the Red Planet.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n

From about 560,000 miles away \u2014 more than twice the distance between Earth and the moon<\/a> \u2014 Europa Clipper\u2019s infrared camera snapped 200 individual frames over the course of 20 minutes on Feb. 28. The frames were later stitched together to reveal the glowing heat signatures of Mars, Phobos, and Deimos.<\/p>\n

The result is a surreal view: Mars dominates the center, faintly surrounded by image-processing artifacts. At the upper left, Deimos appears as a tiny glowing dot. Closer in is Phobos, Mars\u2019 larger and innermost moon. To make the dim moons visible \u2014 each about 250 times fainter than Mars \u2014 engineers brightened the image.<\/p>\n

\n Mashable Light Speed\n <\/p>\n

\"Europa<\/p>\n

\n Left:
\n From a half-million miles away, NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft captured Mars with its two moons, Phobos and Deimos, in space.
\n Credit: NASA \/ JPL-Caltech \/ ASU \/ SwRI\n <\/p>\n

\n Right:
\n To see a labeled view, swipe the slider above to the left.
\n Credit: NASA \/ JPL-Caltech \/ ASU \/ SwRI\n <\/p>\n

Visible on the planet itself is a dark patch near the top, marking the frigid northern polar cap, where temperatures dip to about -190 degrees Fahrenheit. A circular region shows Elysium Mons, one of Mars\u2019 giant volcanoes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Martian moons are rarely seen together, let alone with their host planet. The first time Phobos and Deimos were both caught on camera was in November 2009, when the Mars Express orbiter snagged the unprecedented image, according to the European Space Agency<\/a>. The portrait, which showcased the duo lined up, one behind the other, took years of planning, precise knowledge of their orbits, and some lucky viewing geometry.<\/p>\n

Scientists know relatively little about Phobos and Deimos, two of the smallest known moons in the solar system. Both are “blacker than coal and look like battered potatoes,” according to ESA<\/a>. Phobos is the larger of the pair, about 14 miles wide, and circles Mars three times a day. Deimos, just seven or eight miles across, orbits Mars every 30 hours.<\/p>\n

Right now researchers aren’t sure where the moons came from, and it remains a source of mystery. Some believe they could have been asteroids captured in orbit<\/a> around the Red Planet. Others think they could be chunks of Mars<\/a> itself, blown out by a giant collision billions of years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Phobos<\/p>\n

\n The Mars Express orbiter caught Phobos, in the foreground, and Deimos on camera together for the first time in November 2009. The right side showcases the raw image; left, after processing.
\n Credit: ESA \/ DLR \/ FU Berlin (G. Neukum)\n <\/p>\n

The new Europa Clipper image was taken using one of the spacecraft\u2019s thermal sensors, designed to detect heat instead of visible light. This tool will later be used to explore Jupiter’s moon Europa<\/a>, a frozen world believed to harbor a salty ocean beneath its icy crust \u2014 and possibly the conditions to support life. The instrument \u2014 the Europa Thermal Emission Imaging System<\/a>, or E-Themis \u2014 should help identify places where Europa\u2019s inner ocean might be interacting with its frozen shell \u2014 a key clue in the search for alien life.<\/p>\n

The spacecraft used Mars\u2019 gravity in March to tweak its path, a maneuver known as a gravity assist, on its way to the outer solar system. That close encounter provided a convenient moment to test instruments \u2014 and admire Earth’s ruddy neighbor. Just a few days later, on March 12, another spacecraft made a pop-in<\/a> for a gravity assist and some photos. That robotic spacecraft is on the European Hera mission to <\/strong>study the asteroid NASA intentionally crashed into<\/a> three years ago.<\/p>\n

Europa Clipper launched from Florida in October 2024 and is scheduled to arrive at the Jupiter system in 2030. Once there, it will perform nearly 50 flybys of Europa, gathering detailed measurements of its surface, interior, and chemistry. If NASA finds that Europa is a habitable place, a second Europa mission<\/a> could return to determine if there are indeed any inhabitants.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On its long journey to the outer solar system, NASA\u2019s Europa Clipper spacecraft made a planned detour \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3844],"tags":[70,413,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-296738","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-space","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114927084797284444","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}