[The Epoch Times, September 1, 2022](The Epoch Times reporter Linda compiled and reported) Humanity is reminded from time to time that our planet is extraordinary in many ways. And now a newest reminder comes from the neighbor next door—Mars。
similar to the earth,MarsIt also experiences moments when its satellites cast shadows on the surface.However, by NASA’s Mars rovers Opportunity, Curiosity and more recentlyPerseverance“Perseverance” on Marseclipse“The scene is very different from that on Earth.
Two moons of Mars:Phobos(Phobos, ancient Greek for “fear”) and Deimos (“fear”) orbit Mars every 7.65 hours and 30.35 hours, respectively.MoonThat’s a blink of an eye compared to the 27 days it took to orbit the Earth. These two moons of Mars are also much smaller and irregularly shaped than the moon, and are nowhere near as good-looking as the round moon in our night sky.
Technically, it’s not like theeclipse——The light from the sun is completely covered, but a little light leaks out as if half covering the face of the lute.
Scientists also observed a strange effect from a Martian eclipse. The Mars InSight Lander, an observatory designed to measure seismic activity, was found to tilt slightly during a Martian eclipse. Scientists attribute the tilt to a brief deformation of the Martian surface, which results from a very slight cooling effect on the Martian surface caused by the reduction of solar radiation during the eclipse.
Of the two satellites,PhobosThe silhouette is larger and blocks up to 40% of sunlight. Deimos is farther away, smaller, and blocks a lot less light. In contrast, during a total solar eclipse on Earth,MoonWill cover the sun perfectly. This highlights how special our planet is.
This is due to a very interesting coincidence. The moon is about one-fourth the size of the sun, and it is also 400 times closer to the earth than the sun. This means that the sun and moon are about the same size from Earth.
To say roughly the same means there is a difference, because neither the orbit of the Earth around the sun nor the orbit of the Moon around the Earth is a perfect circle. Therefore, they may be slightly larger or smaller, depending on their position on the track. That’s why there are annular eclipses, because when the moon doesn’t completely cover the sun, it leaves a halo around the moon’s disk.
What’s more interesting is that the presence of humans seems to be just in time, allowing us to see and marvel at such a perfect solar eclipse. The Moon was closer to Earth in the early days of its formation, and is currently moving away from Earth at a rate of about 3.82 centimeters per year, which means it appears to be getting smaller and smaller. For another 600 million years or so, total solar eclipses won’t happen again.
Observing a solar eclipse from Earth can teach us some cool things about the sun, and also allow humans to successfully experimentally test general relativity more than a hundred years ago.
On Mars, scientists can also correlate Phobos’ motion with its gravitational effects on Mars, and use this information to understand Mars’ mysterious interior. Scientists can also predict the ultimate fate of Phobos, as Phobos gets closer and closer to Mars, one day so close that Mars’ gravity will tear it to shreds. Scientists believe that Mars will briefly have a Saturn-like ring of fragments of Phobos after that. ◇#
Responsible editor: Ye Ziwei