JPL: Phobos casts shadow over Mars

Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Wed, 3 Nov 1999 06:43:01 -0800 (PST)

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011 http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Contact: Mary Hardin

IMAGE ADVISORY                              November 2, 1999

MOON CASTS SHADOW OVER MARS

New images from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft show shadows cast on Mars' surface by the Martian moon Phobos.

Global Surveyor's wide-angle cameras, designed to monitor changes in Martian weather and surface conditions, are also proving to be a good way to spot the frequent solar eclipses that occur on Mars when Phobos passes between the red planet and the Sun. Phobos is a tiny, potato-shaped moon that is only about 13- by-11-by-9 kilometers (8-by-7-by-6 miles) in size.

     
     The images are available at  http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov
or http://www.msss.com.

Mars Global Surveyor is the first mission in a long-term program of Mars exploration known as the Mars Surveyor Program that is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA.

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Images also at:

www.space.com/news/planetarymissions/moc-moonshadow_991102.html

Brian