By Aazam
October 17, 2022
The Martian moon Deimos was spotted by the Mars Express spacecraft as it passed in front of Jupiter and its moons
The Mars Express spacecraft, operated by the European Space Agency, is located near Mars but far from Jupiter
This week, the ESA made a video depicting the lumpy small moon of Mars passing in front of Jupiter on February 14, 2022
The sequence has a Pac-Man-like appearance as Deimos moves across the screen, hiding the tiny dots of Jupiter and the far-off moons
According to the ESA, that is five times the distance between Earth and the sun
The spacecraft is in orbit around Mars with the goal of studying the atmosphere and climate of the planet and looking for evidence of water
Deimos crosses Jupiter, then the moons Io and Callisto, before passing in front of Europa and Ganymede. Although Jupiter has many moons, those are the four biggest
The larger moon Phobos passed in front of Deimos in a shorter sequence shot in March, which the ESA used to follow up the Jupiter video
Soon, more thorough research will be done on the moons shown in the videos. The Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission is being developed by Japan's space agency JAXA, and the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) mission is being led by the European,,,,
Additionally, NASA is preparing its Europa Clipper spacecraft to explore the icy moon as a potential home for life
The views from Mars Express are fascinating to observe, and they are assisting researchers in determining the orbits of the Martian moons with greater accuracy