WASHINGTON: NASA’s Percivirus rover has captured a solar eclipse on Mars.
Earth has a moon. Mars has two moons, ‘Bopus’ and ‘Deimus’. ‘Bopus’ is 157 times smaller than Earth’s moon. It orbits Mars at a distance of 9375 km. ‘Daymas’ is smaller than that.
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon is in a straight line between the earth and the sun. Similarly between the Sun – Mars, there is a solar eclipse when the moon on Mars comes. The event, which took place on Tuesday, April 2, was filmed by a NASA spacecraft. It only lasted 40 seconds. This is because the moon of Mars orbits faster. The magnitude of the eclipse is also very small compared to the Earth eclipse.
NASA scientist Rachel Hawson says, ‘Capturing the solar eclipse was an amazing event. The discovery will help determine Mars ‘orbit and Mars’ gravitational pull.
Already in 2012, NASA’s Curiosity spacecraft captured the solar eclipse of Mars. The ‘Perceivance’ rover, which landed on Mars in 2021, is currently being filmed for the first time with a sophisticated camera.