Transit of Phobos from Mars north of 70.4°N; for some days in the year, its shadow misses the surface entirely and falls north or south of Mars. At any given geographical location on the surface of Mars, there are two intervals in a Martian year when the shadow of Phobos or Deimos is passing through its latitude. During each such interval, about half a dozen transits of Phobos can be seen by observers at that geographical location (compared to zero or one transits of Deimos). Transits of Phobos happen during Martian autumn and winter in the respective hemisphere; close to the equator they happen around
Transit of Phobos from Mars the autumnal equinox and the vernal equinox, while farther from the equator they happen closer to the winter solstice. Observers at high latitudes (but less than 70.4°) will see a noticeably smaller angular diameter for Phobos because they are considerably farther away from it than observers at Mars's equator. As a result, transits of Phobos for such observers will cover less of the Sun's disk. Because it orbits so close to Mars, Phobos cannot be seen north of 70.4°N or south of 70.4°S; observers at such latitudes will obviously not see transits, either. Mars Rover "Opportunity" rover photographed transits of