Solar eclipses on Mars Solar eclipses on Mars The two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, are much smaller than the Moon, greatly reducing the frequency of solar eclipses on that planet. Neither moon's apparent diameter is large enough to cover the disk of the sun, and therefore they are annular solar eclipses and can also be considered transits. Due to the small size of Phobos (about ) and its rapid orbital motion, an observer on the surface of Mars would never experience a solar eclipse for longer than about thirty seconds. Phobos also takes only 7 hours 39 minutes to orbit Mars, while
Phobos (moon) presence of voids and indicate that it is not a solid chunk of rock but a porous body. The porosity of Phobos was calculated to be 30% ± 5%, or a quarter to a third being empty. Phobos has been photographed in close-up by several spacecraft whose primary mission has been to photograph Mars. The first was "Mariner 7" in 1969, followed by "Viking 1" in 1977, "Mars Global Surveyor" in 1998 and 2003, "Mars Express" in 2004, 2008, and 2010, and "Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter" in 2007 and 2008. On August 25, 2005, the "Spirit" rover, with an excess of