Odyssey Views Phobos in Visible Light: April 24, 2019

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Caption:

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This movie shows the Martian moon Phobos as viewed in visible light by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter on April 24, 2019. It was put together from 19 images taken 1 second apart by Odyssey's infrared camera, Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS). The apparent motion is due to progression of the camera's pointing during the observation. This was the third observation of Phobos by Mars Odyssey.

While displayed here in visible-wavelength light, THEMIS also recorded thermal-infrared imagery in the same scan.

The distance to Phobos from Odyssey during the observation was about 5,692 miles (9,160 kilometers).

Background Info:

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. THEMIS was developed by Arizona State University in Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing.

The THEMIS investigation is led by Philip Christensen at ASU. The prime contractor for the Odyssey project, Lockheed Martin Space in Denver, developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena.

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