AssetID: 55943235
Headline: Perseverance Rover captures amazing footage of Martian 'eclipse'
Caption: BY MARK WORGAN The Earth wasn’t the only place to experience an eclipse on 12 August this year, as NASA’s Perseverance rover has captured amazing footage of the silhouette of Phobos, one of Mars’s two moons, as it passed in front of the Sun. The rover used its Mastcam-Z camera to record the transit on 12 August 2026, the 1,948th Martian day – or sol – of its mission. The resulting animation has been tinted by NASA to recreate what a person on the Martian surface might see while watching the event through protective solar eclipse glasses. Perseverance has recorded several such transits since landing in Jezero Crater in February 2021. Scientists can compare the recordings to gain a more precise understanding of the orbit of the irregularly shaped moon and how it is changing over time. Phobos is gradually moving closer to Mars and, in the distant future, its orbit is expected to bring it towards the Red Planet’s surface.
Keywords: feature,science,photo,space,phobos,mars
PersonInImage: Phobos transiting the Sun on 12 August 2026.