Yeah, Mars Has Moon
Mars. The Red Planet. The War Planet. All that. What people don't seem to know is that Mars has a moon. It's called Phobos, and it's just as inhabitable as our cheese-filled one.
Mars, our closest planet neighbor, was originally discovered a quadrillion years ago by the Ancient people who were bored at night and just looked up. It became a symbol to almost all cultures, including a symbol of the God of war for the Romans, Greeks and Sanskrit cultures; fire, war and destruction for the Babylons; Mangala in Hindu culture; Horus the Red for Ancient Egyptians; "the one who blushes" for the Hebrews; the God of faith for the Persians; and the fire symbol from the five elements for Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Vietnamese.
With all of that staring and worshiping and doting, it wasn't until 1877, in the Naval Observatory in Washington D.C., that someone looked and said, "I see a moon off that red dude."
This is one of the first detailed photos of the moon, courtesy of Exxon Mobil. Wait... I mean NASA. Phobos, the God of Fear, is the son of Mars in Greek Mythology. First seen by Asaph Hall, Sr., Phobos is strange because it's really
porous, it orbits closer to Mars than any other moon to its planet and
is incredibly not reflective. Light hits this guy and gets sucked in. Essentially, it's more like an asteroid than a planet. It's also extremely NOT symmetrical. (It's also extremely NOT Mars' only moon.)
Mars, our closest planet neighbor, was originally discovered a quadrillion years ago by the Ancient people who were bored at night and just looked up. It became a symbol to almost all cultures, including a symbol of the God of war for the Romans, Greeks and Sanskrit cultures; fire, war and destruction for the Babylons; Mangala in Hindu culture; Horus the Red for Ancient Egyptians; "the one who blushes" for the Hebrews; the God of faith for the Persians; and the fire symbol from the five elements for Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Vietnamese.
With all of that staring and worshiping and doting, it wasn't until 1877, in the Naval Observatory in Washington D.C., that someone looked and said, "I see a moon off that red dude."
This is one of the first detailed photos of the moon, courtesy of Exxon Mobil. Wait... I mean NASA. Phobos, the God of Fear, is the son of Mars in Greek Mythology. First seen by Asaph Hall, Sr., Phobos is strange because it's really
porous, it orbits closer to Mars than any other moon to its planet and
is incredibly not reflective. Light hits this guy and gets sucked in. Essentially, it's more like an asteroid than a planet. It's also extremely NOT symmetrical. (It's also extremely NOT Mars' only moon.)
Phobos is so NOT symmetrical that gravity on the surface varies by 210%, depending on where you measure. The biggest blemish on its surface is a giant crater, named for the wife of discoverer Hall. Stickney's Crater.
That is a mosaic of three photos taken by Viking I. [Read more about NASA spacecraft here: The Voyager Spacecraft Kick Ass! Prove Solar System is Not Straight!] Phobos has been beat up pretty severely.
Now, though most people don't know Mars has a moon, fewer know that Mars has two moons. In fact, the smaller moon, Deimos, was discovered by Hall about a week before he discovered Phobos, so this is post is pulling off a Memento. (Whoa! Shocked? Surprised?) Deimos is named after another of God Mars' people, the Greek symbol of Dread. This is Deimos, just as irregular, dark and barren as its big brother, Phobos.
These little guys, both a fraction the size of our moon, sometimes cut in front of the sun and are captured as hilarious, tiny eclipses. I'll leave you with photos of said eclipses and the reminder that you just learned something.
That is a mosaic of three photos taken by Viking I. [Read more about NASA spacecraft here: The Voyager Spacecraft Kick Ass! Prove Solar System is Not Straight!] Phobos has been beat up pretty severely.Now, though most people don't know Mars has a moon, fewer know that Mars has two moons. In fact, the smaller moon, Deimos, was discovered by Hall about a week before he discovered Phobos, so this is post is pulling off a Memento. (Whoa! Shocked? Surprised?) Deimos is named after another of God Mars' people, the Greek symbol of Dread. This is Deimos, just as irregular, dark and barren as its big brother, Phobos.
These little guys, both a fraction the size of our moon, sometimes cut in front of the sun and are captured as hilarious, tiny eclipses. I'll leave you with photos of said eclipses and the reminder that you just learned something.
Wow, I learn something new every day in this blog. Thanks for expanding my mind on a Tuesday.
Our pleasure, Jason. We teach you something new every day? That means we can be in business for another 10 days. That's all we have left.
I can't believe two moons. That's totally updog.
That's not a moon...
It's a battle station!
Speak for yourself, John. One thing a day? I can keep us in business for exactly 1,450,345.254 years assuming I learn nothing new.
I'm the best blogger, ever.
- JLF