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Mars' Moons
   
  Jump to: Deimos, Phobos

DEIMOS:
       Deimos is the smaller of Mars' two moons. It was named after an attendant of the Roman God, Mars. It is also Latin for "panic."  Deimos is a dark satellite that is composed of black, carbonaceous chondrite. Some scientists believe that these moons are not actually satellites, but asteroids that have been captured instead. Scientists believe this because Deimos and Phobos are not completely round.  In fact, they are not round at all!  The dimensions of Deimos is 7.5*6.1*5.5 km. Deimos and Phobos, the second moon, have a lot of craters. However, Deimos is smoother and it's craters are partially filled. Here are some facts about Mars' moon, Deimos. Deimos was discovered by Asaph Hall in 1877 using a telescope at the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.  (also the residence of the vice president of the United States!) The mass of Deimos is 1.8e15 kg.  The rotational period of this moon is 1.26244 days, or about 30 hours, and the magnitude is 12.4 Vo.

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PHOBOS:
       Phobos is the larger of the two moons. It was named after an attendant of the Roman God, Mars. It is also Latin for "fear."  Phobos is a dark moon that is composed of a black, carbonaceous chondrite. Like Deimos, some scientists believe that Phobos is actually a captured asteroid instead of a moon. This moon was discovered by Asaph Hall in 1877. Its mass is 1.08e16 kg. Phobos is 9,380 km from Mars, but is slowly moving closer to Mars.  Scientists predict that in another 100 million years, Phobus will actually crash into Mars.  Phobos is, at its longest, 14 miles (22 kilometers) across.  Around three feet (1 meter) of it is a layer of dust built up over millions of years of meteorite collisions.  Its rotational period is 0.3191 days, or around 7 hours, and it has a magnitude of 11.3 Vo. 

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Courtesy of NASA/NSSDC.

Picture of Phobos taken by the Voyager 1.

Courtesy of NASA/NSSDC/JPL.

Montage of pictures taken by the Voyager1 to make a whole picture of Phobos.

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