Perseverance Rover Records Phobos Crossing the Sun on Aug. 12

NASA's Perseverance rover used its Mastcam-Z camera to record the silhouette of Phobos, one of Mars' two moons, passing in front of the Sun on Aug. 12, 2026, the mission's 1,948th Martian day [1]. The resulting animation was tinted to approximate the view a person would have from the Martian surface while wearing solar eclipse glasses [1]. Perseverance has recorded several such transits since landing at Jezero Crater in February 2021, and comparing them lets scientists refine estimates of how the moon's orbit is changing over time [1].

Sources

1. science.nasa.gov · Perseverance Captures Another Phobos Transit Aug 24, 2026
2. sciencedaily.com · Physicists create a tiny “Big Bang” with surprisingly small atomic nuclei Aug 23, 2026

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