I'm not sure. There aren't any images on the ESA site. I suspect that this image happened at a point when the orbit of Mars Express took it close to Phobos, so since Deimos has quite a different orbit and is also very small, the orbiter may never get close enough for decent pictures, I suppose.
No images on the ESA site, but that's not due to orbital mechanics. Deimos might seem quite small compared with, say, our moon but it's a naked-eye object with discernible surface features anywhere in Mars Orbit. Unless, of course, Mars is actually in the way. So the cameras on Mars Express will have some very high-resolution images indeed.
Meanwhile, the SF geek admires the familiar image of Phobos and asks: "I wonder if the axis of Stickney Crater passes through the planetesimal's centre of mass..." Call me Crazy Eddie but I think someone's moved my cheese.
We all just pile into the Water Rats. It's not like it's a big place where you can't find people... The Water Rats is down Grays' Inn Road from Kings Cross (mainline) station immediately past the specialist hospital (whose specialties I forget), about 5 mins walk.
It's the striations - the ripples or banding - that's impressive. I think they represent shockwaves from the Stickney impact (the big crater at the end) shattering but not dispersing the entire body of Phobos. That, or some weird fluid or plastic phase during the impact.
The moon's actually in a far worse state but then, it would be: it survives bigger impacts. Whatever created the Tycho Crater on the moon, with its strange 'rays' would have vaporised a body the size of Phobos.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-12 05:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-12 06:05 am (UTC)Fear and Dread and Loathing
Date: 2004-11-12 06:30 am (UTC)Meanwhile, the SF geek admires the familiar image of Phobos and asks: "I wonder if the axis of Stickney Crater passes through the planetesimal's centre of mass..." Call me Crazy Eddie but I think someone's moved my cheese.
Anything on this weekend? On Earth, I mean?
Re: Fear and Dread and Loathing
Date: 2004-11-12 06:39 am (UTC)Re: Fear and Dread and Loathing
Date: 2004-11-12 07:00 am (UTC)Deimos is actually only about 1/3rd the size of Phobos. It was imaged by the Viking Orbiter in 1977:
and since Mars Express had to be in the right orbit to capture Phobos in detail, I doubt it would give good results for a more distant Deimos.
Re: Fear and Dread and Loathing
Date: 2004-11-12 09:05 am (UTC)Re: Fear and Dread and Loathing
Date: 2004-11-12 09:31 am (UTC)The Water Rats is down Grays' Inn Road from Kings Cross (mainline) station immediately past the specialist hospital (whose specialties I forget), about 5 mins walk.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-12 06:55 am (UTC)Indeed the lighting deos make it look very unreal. (Also the lack of anything else in the picture make it hard for the brain to appreciate its scale.)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-12 07:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-12 09:11 am (UTC)The moon's actually in a far worse state but then, it would be: it survives bigger impacts. Whatever created the Tycho Crater on the moon, with its strange 'rays' would have vaporised a body the size of Phobos.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-12 10:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-16 10:35 am (UTC)