NASA shared timelapses on X of Mars’ two moons fully separate transits of the solar in preparation for right now’s North American complete solar eclipse.What is a complete solar eclipse? Here’s why the phenomenon is so uncommon.What is a complete solar eclipse? Here are some security tips to know when you’re planning to see one.While we earthlings put together for a uncommon total solar eclipse that can move over North America, Mars had one of its own earlier this 12 months.A timelapse of photos taken by NASA’s Perseverance rover Feb. 8 confirmed the Red Planet’s tiny doomed moon Phobos crossing in entrance of the much-larger solar. One month earlier, Mars’ different moon, Deimos, accomplished a transit of its own.The U.S. space agency shared timelapses of the unimaginable celestial occasions final week in preparation for the total solar eclipse that right now will shroud a long swath of the U.S. in uncharacteristic darkness.By now, the hundreds of thousands of Americans who plan to witness right now’s complete solar eclipse seemingly have some idea of what’s in store. But for these questioning what an eclipse seems to be like on one other planet within the solar system, this is what to learn about what Mars skilled.Solar eclipse experiment: Here’s why NASA is launching 3 sounding rockets into space during the total solar eclipseMars solar eclipse: See Phobos, Deimos, transiting the sunFrom Mars’ Jezero Crater, the Perseverance rover, which landed on the planet in 2021, captured a sequence of photographs on Feb. 8 of the odd-shaped tiny moon Phobos passing in entrance of the much-larger solar. Engineers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory later uploaded 68 images of the solar eclipse to an online assortment.The rover’s left Mastcam-Z camera is one of two scouting imagers positioned high on the mast of Perseverance that’s well-known for capturing panoramic panorama views of the Red Planet. On that day, although, the digicam was as a substitute angled skyward because the asteroid-sized Phobos handed overhead.Like Earth, any planet with a moon can experience eclipses. But for planets with moons as small as these of Mars,’ the our bodies could also be both too small or too distant to create a complete solar eclipse such because the one fast approaching Earth.In the case of Phobos, the Martian moon’s measurement and form ‒ roughly 17 miles long on its longest aspect ‒ make it not possible for it to fully cowl the solar’s disk to create a complete solar eclipse on Mars like the one headed Earth’s way in only a matter of hours.Same goes for the smaller Deimos, regardless of being 16 instances nearer to the planet than our moon is to Earth. Deimos just lately had a transit of the solar of its own in January, a timelapse of which NASA shared Thursday in a thread on the social media web site X together with Phobos’ eclipse of the solar.The visuals NASA shared show a silhouette of Deimos, which is simply 7.5 miles in diameter, transiting the solar. The transit took about two minutes, although NASA stated it sped the video up for social media.As for Phobos, the transit is proven in actual time.Mars rovers have noticed solar eclipses for yearsIt’s not the primary time Mars rovers have noticed Phobos, which is on a collision course with the Red Planet, crossing in entrance of the solar. But every time these eclipses are noticed, scientists say they’ll measure refined shifts in Phobos’ orbit as that deadly day approaches.While Spirit and Opportunity made the primary observations in 2004, it wasn’t till 2019 that Curiosity became the first to record video of the occasion, NASA has stated.”Each time these eclipses are observed, they allow scientists to measure subtle shifts in Phobos’ orbit over time,” NASA explained after a earlier eclipse in 2022. “The moon’s tidal forces pull on the deep interior crust and mantle of the Red Planet; studying how much Phobos shifts over time reveals something about how resistant the crust and mantle are, and thus what kinds of materials they’re made of.”Phobos is on a collision course with MarsTranslated as “fear” in Greek, Phobos is one of two Martian moons found in 1877 by American astronomer Asaph Hall.Orbiting Mars 3 times a day, Phobos is far nearer to the planet’s floor than its brother Deimos, in keeping with NASA. Gouges from hundreds of meteorite impacts mark the moon, which scientists imagine was practically shattered by a large impression long in the past.But in contrast to Deimos (“dread,” in Greek), which is drifting ever-outward and can ultimately depart Mars’ orbit, Phobos is on a collision course with the Red Planet.Mars’ sturdy gravity is drawing Phobos about six ft nearer to it each century.Don’t fear: The worlds’ impending collision will not happen in our lifetime. Sometime throughout the subsequent 50 million years, the moon is anticipated to both crash into Mars or break up into a planetary ring like Saturn’s.Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending information for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]