Our students view the phenomena of eclipses of the sun and our
planet with the greatest interest, just as your astronomers do.
Mars' two moons present what would appear to you a most striking
phenomenon, for one rises in the East and the other in the West,
passing each other at times within view of observers. The most
distant satellite of Mars is known to us as Laster, to which has
been given the name of Deimos by the first observers on your
Earth. Approximately 132 hours elapse between its rising and
setting at any particular point on our planet, as a consequence
of the fact that it revolves in 30 hours 18 minutes at a distance
of 14,600 miles more or less from its primary; and as Mars
rotates in 24 hours 37 minutes from East to West the motion is
almost neutralized by the circulation of this satellite.
During the time of its rotation it changes four times from full
to new and new to full. The appearance of this satellite to the
Martians is equal, if not a little brighter than the view of
Jupiter from your Earth.
The second satellite, known to us as Benii, and to your
astronomers as Phobos, sheds considerable amount of light on the
Martian landscape by means of its large size and close proximity,
being distant about 3,700 miles from the surface of Mars.
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