Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2020 October 30

                      Fear and Dread: The Moons of Mars
             Composite Image Credit & Copyright: Dennis Simmons

   Explanation: On Halloween fear and dread will stalk your night skies,
   also known as Phobos and Deimos the moons of Mars. The 2020 opposition
   of Mars was on October 13, so the Red Planet will still rise shortly
   after sunset. Near Halloween's Full Moon on the sky, its strange
   yellowish glow will outshine other stars throughout the night. But the
   two tiny Martian moons are very faint and in close orbits, making them
   hard to spot, even with a small telescope. You can find them in this
   carefully annotated composite view though. The overexposed planet's
   glare is reduced and orbital paths for inner moon Phobos and outer moon
   Deimos are overlayed on digitally combined images captured on October
   6. The diminutive moons of Mars were discovered in August of 1877 by
   astronomer Asaph Hall at the US Naval Observatory using the Great
   Equatorial 26-inch Alvan Clark refractor.

                    Tomorrow's picture: galaxy of horrors
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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