Interesting Facts About Phobos - If you're very interested in all things space and planets, you've probably heard of Phobos. However, if you are new to the world of outer space, you may not have heard of Phobos before. Let's find out more about this satellite and what makes it such an interesting part of outer space.
1. It is one of the two natural satellites of Mars
The second natural satellite, Deimos, is only one-seventh the size of Phobos, although it is still more than 1.9 miles (3 km) in diameter. Phobos is the inner moon, while Deimos is the outer moon.
2. Phobos was discovered in 1877
While scientists are still discovering new and exciting things in outer space, Phobos is certainly not one of the more recent discoveries. Asaph Lobby, 1829-1907, credited with the discovery of Phobos and Deimos.
Lobby, an astronomer, born in Connecticut, USA, is responsible for several other discoveries related to outer space, but none as famous as the discovery of the moons of Mars.
Lobby reports that his wife, Angeline Stickney, was the one who encouraged him to search for the Martian moons as the planet approached Earth in 1877. He discovered the two moons in just six days of each other in August 1877.
3. The moon is named after the Greek god Phobos
The Greek god Phobos personified fear and was the son of Ares and Aphrodite (Mars and Venus, respectively).
Customized organization Phobos is related to the individualized structure current "phobia", which also means fear.
Another Martian moon, Deimos, is also named after a Greek god, this time meaning "fear".
Together, the Greek Godbrothers join their father on the battlefield - one representing the fear felt during battle and the other representing feelings of fear and wanting to flee.
With the moons of Mars, the names can represent their large size and the proximity of their orbits to the planet Mars.
4. Phobos composition is not what you think
It is common to think that the moon is just a giant rock floating in space or around a planet.
However, the composition of Phobos is more interesting than that. Most of the two Martian moons are indeed carbon-rich rocks, but that's not all.
Scientists believe that Phobos and Deimos are composed of rock and ice. More recent studies into Phobos show that the outer surface is covered with a one-meter-thick layer of dust.
5. Phobos' largest crater is called "Stickney"
The largest crater Phobos is named after the wife of the inventor Asaph Lobby.
His wife, whose full name is Chloe Angeline Stickney Corridor, strongly encourages her husband to continue searching for satellites, which is why his surname "Stickney" is used as the name of the largest crater. However, the crater was not given a name until 1973, nearly 100 years after the discovery of Phobos. The name was given by a committee meeting of the Global Galactic Association.
Inside the Stickey crater is a smaller crater, with a breadth of about 2 km.
To many, this would seem like a fairly large crater. However, since Stickney itself is 5.6 miles (9 km) in diameter, the smaller crater, named Limtoc in 2006, does not appear to be very large. The 17 craters on Phobos have been named – some named after astronomers, while others are named after fictional characters, such as Lipton, who is a character in the popular novel Gulliver's Movements.
6. Phobos is thought to be close to Mars
Phobos is a circle all out 5,826 miles (9,376 km) from Mars, which is a distance most of us can't even fathom.
The distance is further from San Francisco, California, USA, to Berlin, Germany. However, this is actually not taken too far when it comes to planets and their satellites.
In fact, the distance between the satellite and the planet is the closest distance ever found in the entire solar goodbye.The period of Phobos' circle is 7.7 hours, and Phobos is moving faster than Mars.It moves almost twice as fast as the planet it orbits.
7. Mars and Phobos are getting closer every year
Every hundred years, Phobos gets closer to Mars. The difference in the distance every hundred years is only about 6 feet 7 inches (2 meters).
However, scientists have calculated that if the Phobos satellite continues to move closer to Mars at its current rate, in 30-50 million years, Phobos will not be the same as we know it today.
References and sources
- https://www.planetsforkids.org/moon-phobos.html
- https://www.space.com/20346-phobos-moon.html
- https://www.space.com/20413-phobos-deimos-mars-moons.html