Tag: phobos
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phobos: appearance artificial underneath worn surface
Russia launched Phobos-Grunt spacecraft on Nov 8, a ten minute video of event is available here. Phobos-Grunt’s mission to obtain soil samples from Martian moon’s surface, returning in 2014 to Earth. A picture taken, at left, shows expected landing site, but worn away areas where light brown turns to green certainly appears artificial! The picture…
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Martian Moon Phobos Discovered August 17, 1877
Astronomer Asaph Hall discovered a “dim star” while observing Mars through a 26 inch refractor telescope at the US Naval Observatory, the largest telescope at that time. Hall had already discovered Deimos, the smaller Martian moon on August 11th. You can read more in a Universe Today article, “Finding Phobos: Discovery of a Martian Moon”.
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phobos mystery
Why does Martian Moon Phobos generate intense interest? In 1959, Russian Samuilovich Shklovsky, an astronomer, suggested Phobos may be artificial, since he concluded the moon’s orbit was decaying and could only be due to a very low density, possibly, even hollow. Buzz Aldrin, former astronaut, touted Phobos to President Obama as key to permanent space…