NASA’s Perseverance Rover Records Earth Passing Behind Phobos

NASA’s Perseverance rover has successfully documented a celestial occultation, capturing Earth as it passed behind Phobos, one of Mars' two moons. The event was recorded on July 2, 2026, marking the 1,907th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission.

The observations were made using the Mastcam-Z instrument, which took a series of images during the Martian twilight, approximately 40 minutes after sunset. In the resulting composite imagery, Earth appears as a small, luminous point traversing the sky. To highlight the movement of the two bodies, image processing techniques were applied to remove background light, while the surrounding sky reflects the natural blue-gray and reddish-gray hues typical of the Martian evening.

The Mastcam-Z instrument is operated by Arizona State University in partnership with Malin Space Science Systems. The Perseverance mission is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech, under the agency's Science Mission Directorate.

Source: NASA