Check out: Mars moon looks exactly like a potato
The image has been shared on the space administration’s official Instagram account.
American space agency NASA has recently shared an image of a Mars moon that looks like a potato. The image has been shared on the space administration’s official Instagram account.
“You say potato, we say Mars Moon,” the National Aeronautics and Space Administration wrote as a caption.
Giving out more details about the moon, NASA wrote, “This is an image of Phobos, the largest of Mars’s two raggedy moons, as seen by the @UAHiRISE camera aboard our Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.”
The picture, which was taken from 6,800 kilometres (4,225 miles) above the surface, shows a pockmarked celestial body with a large impact basin called Stickney crater. The grooves seen along its side could be the result of tidal forces – the mutual gravitational pull of the planet and the moon, NASA said.
Scientists have also calculated that tiny Phobos is nearing Mars at a rate of 1.8 metres (6 feet) every century, meaning it will either crash into the planet in 50 million years or break up into a ring of debris.
Phobos was discovered in 1877 by American astronomer Asaph Hall, and one popular theory is that it might be a captured asteroid. In Greek mythology, Phobos and Deimos are the twin sons of Ares (Mars in Roman mythology).
The Instagram post quickly got the comments section loaded with surprised reactions.
“Sooooo…can we officially change its name to Sweet Baby Potato or….nah?(sic)” an Instagram user wrote. “It’s a mootato(sic)” and “It looks like it’s made of some kind of metal,” were some of the other comments for the post.
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