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A Journey to the End of Time

The Solar System in 3D, in real time

A simulation of the Solar System driven by real ephemerides. The Sun, the planets, Pluto and the major moons, space probes, the International Space Station, nearby stars and the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way are where they really are at the chosen moment. You can run time from 1700 to 2100, fly from one object to another and look at the sky from anywhere on Earth.

Phobos

Moon of Mars

Facts

Mean diameter
about 22 km (irregular shape)
Mean distance from the planet
9375 km
Orbital period
7 hours 39 minutes
Discovery
Asaph Hall, 17 August 1877

Phobos is the larger and closer of the two moons of Mars: an irregular body that circles the planet three times a day, so close to the surface that it cannot always be seen from some parts of Mars. Its name means “fear”: in myth it is the brother of Deimos, son of Ares.

Its most striking feature is Stickney crater, 9 km wide. It may be a captured asteroid, but some clues contradict this idea; it seems to be made of rock similar to that of carbonaceous asteroids.

It is moving closer to Mars by 1.8 m every hundred years: in about 50 million years it will either crash into the planet or break up into a ring.

Sources