Astronomy Photo of the Day
Posted By admin On January 24, 2011 @ 2:54 pm In Photo Essays | Comments Disabled
Visit the NASA/JPL website to view more Astronomy Pictures of the Day [1]
[2]- click to enlarge image
Phobos’ South Pole from Mars Express
Credit & Copyright: ESA [3]/DLR [4]/FU Berlin [5] (G. Neukum [6])
Explanation: Where on this moon would you land? The moon pictured above [7] is not Earth’s moon but Phobos [8], the closest moon to the planet Mars. Phobos [9] is so close to Mars that it is expected to break up and crash into the red planet within the next 100 million years. Earlier just this year, however, ESA [10]‘s Mars Express [11] mission took detailed images of the area surrounding Phobos’ South Pole. Visible on the small moon’s unusually dark surface [12] are many circular craters [13], long chains of craters, and strange streaks. Large Stickney Crater [14], which looms on the far right, was also visible in the corresponding North Polar image [15] taken last year. This and other similar images [7] of Phobos are so detailed [16], resolving items even 10-meters across, that they are useful for examining proposed landing sites [17] of the future Phobos-Grunt mission. The Russian Phobos-Grunt robotic spacecraft [18] is scheduled to launch toward Phobos [19] later this year and return surface samples in 2014.
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URL to article: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/2011/01/24/astronomy-photo-of-the-day-3/
URLs in this post:
[1] Astronomy Pictures of the Day: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/
[2] Image: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/phobos2_marsexpress_3000.jpg
[3] ESA: http://www.esa.int/
[4] DLR: http://www.dlr.de/pf/
[5] FU Berlin: http://www.fu-berlin.de/
[6] G. Neukum: http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMGQOXLDMD_people_0_iv.html
[7] pictured above: http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/7/1317
[8] Phobos: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobos_%28moon%29
[9] Phobos: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080414.html
[10] ESA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESA
[11] Mars Express: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Express
[12] unusually dark surface: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap101201.html
[13] circular craters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzIw0c_MjTc
[14] Stickney Crater: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080410.html
[15] corresponding North Polar image: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100317.html
[16] detailed: http://planetary.org/blog/article/00002888/
[17] proposed landing sites: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMIPY6SXIG_1.html#subhead4
[18] Phobos-Grunt robotic spacecraft: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fobos-Grunt
[19] Phobos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkBPeGLDKS4
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