Overview
- The Perseverance rover recorded a short image sequence showing Earth slip behind Phobos on July 2, 2026, and NASA released annotated, background-processed composites on Aug. 5–6, 2026.
- Mission teams say the occultation lasted about 40 seconds in the frames and reduced Earth to a single pixel because our planet was roughly 195 million miles away at the time.
- Mark Lemmon planned the timed observation and assembled the composite and Mastcam-Z operations were led by Arizona State University with JPL and MSSS support.
- Phobos is a lumpy moon about 17 miles (27 km) across that orbits very close to Mars (about 4,850 miles or 7,800 km), which lets it appear large enough from the surface to fully block distant Earth.
- Scientists describe the event as an occultation, which differs from a transit or eclipse, and say the images showcase the mission’s planning, imaging capability, and precise timing recorded in the mission metadata.