Deimos takes 30 hours and 18 minutes to complete one orbit around the Red Planet. That's a little more than one Martian day or sol which is about 24 hours and 40 minutes long, so Deimos drifts westward across the Martian sky. About 15 kilometers across at its widest, the smallest of Mars' two moons is bright though. In fact Deimos is the brightest celestial object in this Martian skyscape captured before sunrise by Perseverance on March 1, the 1,433rd sol of the Mars rover's mission. The image is a composed of 16 exposures recorded by one of the rover's navigation cameras. The individual exposures were combined into a single image for an enhanced low light view. Regulus and Algeiba, bright stars in the constellation Leo, are also visible in the dark Martian predawn sky.
Deimos completes its orbit around Mars in just over 30 hours, slightly longer than a Martian sol, which explains its slow westward drift across the sky. Despite being only about 15 kilometers wide, it appears remarkably bright in Perseverance’s predawn capture from sol 1,433. The image, built from 16 combined exposures, reveals how low-light imaging can highlight subtle details much like how unrelated searches, even phrases like gmat test takers for hire, can unexpectedly surface in scientific discussions online. Alongside Deimos, the stars Regulus and Algieba glow faintly in Leo, adding depth to this rare Martian skyscape before sunrise.
ReplyDelete