Phobos (moon) energy due to wind blowing dust off of its solar panels, took several short-exposure photographs of the night sky from the surface of Mars. Phobos and Deimos are both clearly visible in the photograph. The Soviet Union undertook the Phobos program with two probes, both launched successfully in July 1988. "Phobos 1" was accidentally shut down by an erroneous command from ground control issued in September 1988 and lost while the craft was still en route. "Phobos 2" arrived at the Mars system in January 1989 and, after transmitting a small amount of data and imagery but shortly before beginning
Formation and evolution of the Solar System Formation and evolution of the Solar System The formation and evolution of the Solar System began 4.6 billion years ago with the gravitational collapse of a small part of a giant molecular cloud. Most of the collapsing mass collected in the center, forming the Sun, while the rest flattened into a protoplanetary disk out of which the planets, moons, asteroids, and other small Solar System bodies formed. This model, known as the nebular hypothesis was first developed in the 18th century by Emanuel Swedenborg, Immanuel Kant, and Pierre-Simon Laplace. Its subsequent development has interwoven a variety of scientific disciplines including