On September 30, 2024, the Perseverance rover turned its camera towards the Sun. A dark shape crosses his disc and momentarily gives the Martian sky the appearance of an eye. The small "pupil" is Phobos, one of the two moons of Mars.
Unlike our Moon, Phobos is a small irregular body. From the Martian soil, it does not mask the entire Sun: its silhouette leaves a luminous part around it. This scene belongs to a transit observed and filmed, without a real eye of course.
The proximity of Phobos to Mars and the speed of its orbit make these passages very short. NASA indicates that a transit usually lasts about thirty seconds. The published video also distinguishes an accelerated sequence from the real-time sequence.
Comparing these passages also helps to clarify the evolution of the Phobos orbit. A brief scene in the sky becomes a scientific measure.
What we know
Partial transit; irregular silhouette of Phobos, no round lunar disc or total Earth eclipse.
To go to the source
References accessed October 11, 2026. Linked pages may be in another language.
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