New Looks at Phobos from Mars Express Flyby

By Nancy Atkinson - January 21, 2011 at 7:46 AM UTC | Planetary Science
phobos-grunt.jpg

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The Mars Express team released the images today from the close flyby the spacecraft made of Phobos on January 9. The images weren't downloaded from Mars Express until Jan. 18, and then they were processed, so these are hot off the press. The team didn't provide much explanation, but enjoy the images. There's one 3-D view in the group, so grab your 3-D glasses.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="580" caption="Another view of Phobos from Mars Express. Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)"]

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[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="580" caption="A sequence of images from 5 different channels on the high resolution camera on Mars Express. Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum"]

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[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="580" caption="3-D view of Phobos from Jan. 9, 2011. Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)"]

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Here's the on 3-D view, and the team explained that due to the stereo viewing geometry during the flyby a small part of the moon's edge is only visible for the right eye resulting in odd 3D-perception in this area. This part has been slightly adjusted for better viewing. Also, for the left eye at the left edge of the image four small data gaps have been interpolated.

[caption id="attachment_82728" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Image of Phobos with a resolution of 8.2 m/pixel in orbit 8974. The ellipses marked the previously planned (red) and currently considered (blue) landing sites for the Russian Phobos-Grunt mission. Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)"]

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Source:

ESA

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com