Moons of Mars on the sides of Saturn (later discovered to be its rings), used the anagram "smaismrmilmepoetaleumibunenugttauiras" for "Altissimum planetam tergeminum observavi" ("I have observed the most distant planet to have a triple form"), Johannes Kepler had misinterpreted it to mean "Salve umbistineum geminatum Martia proles" (Hello, furious twins, sons of Mars). Perhaps inspired by Kepler (and quoting Kepler's third law of planetary motion), Jonathan Swift's satire "Gulliver's Travels" (1726) refers to two moons in Part 3, Chapter 3 (the "Voyage to Laputa"), in which Laputa's astronomers are described as having discovered two satellites of Mars orbiting at distances of 3 and
Moons of Mars Sun's angular diameter as seen from Mars, by contrast, is about 21'. Thus there are no total solar eclipses on Mars, as the moons are far too small to completely cover the Sun. On the other hand, total lunar eclipses of Phobos are very common, happening almost every night. The motions of Phobos and Deimos would appear very different from that of our own Moon. Speedy Phobos rises in the west, sets in the east, and rises again in just eleven hours, while Deimos, being only just outside synchronous orbit, rises as expected in the east but very slowly. Despite