NASA's Perseverance rover captures 'googly-eye' Martian moon passing sun: See video
A NASA rover captured images of a Martian eclipse that resembled a googly-eye peering down at the red planet.
The space agency released photos and video Wednesday that show the Martian moon Phobos pass between the planet and the sun.
The images were captured in September by the rover Perserverance, a rover that has spent three years on Mars and is currently on the western wall of the planet's Jezero crater.
Phobos is roughly 157 times smaller in diameter than Earth’s Moon, according to NASA, and orbits the Mars nearly at its equator. The space agency said that the events are a nearly daily occurrence on the planet, but often last for around 30 seconds.
It's not the first time the rover has captured a Martian eclipse. Other rovers have sent back images of the phenomenon in 2004 and 2016.
NASA said that Phobos is moving closer to Mars and is predicted to crash into the planet in 50 million years.
What is Perserverance?
Perseverance’s research is intended to pave the way for humans to reach Mars in the years ahead under NASA's Artemis program, which will begin with astronauts returning to the moon to establish a base of operations.
The rover required a 200-day, 300-million-mile journey between from July 2020 to February 2021 to reach the red planet.
The craft's landing site was the bottom of Jezero Crater, where it has spent the ensuing years scouring the area's rocks and soil for evidence that life once existed on Mars.
NASA released images Monday of the rover looking back over the ground it has covered in the crater and said that before the year is out, Perseverance is expected to summit the Crater and begin a quarter-mile drive to another area of the planet that may contain evidence of previous life on Mars.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NASA rover video captures 'googly-eye' Martian moon passing sun
