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To be added or removed from the Astronomy Picture of the Day ping list please send me a request via "Private Reply" (Mail).

Today's image is a video at the source link.

1 posted on 05/24/2026 10:45:57 AM PDT by MtnClimber
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Pinging the APOD list

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Today's image is a video at the source link.

2 posted on 05/24/2026 10:47:43 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

I was really impressed by this video. To have lived long enough to see such an achievement. A solar eclipse on Mars!


4 posted on 05/24/2026 10:58:43 AM PDT by Nateman (Democrats did not strive for fraud friendly voting merely to continue honest elections.)
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To: MtnClimber

Wild


5 posted on 05/24/2026 11:12:37 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: MtnClimber
[Phobos] is 150 times smaller than Luna (our moon) in diameter, but also 50 times closer to its parent planet.

At 149 million miles away (rather than only 93 million miles for Earth), the apparent disk of the Sun as viewed from Mars is also considerably smaller.

Regards,

6 posted on 05/24/2026 11:14:46 AM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: MtnClimber

That’s a very lumpy moon...


7 posted on 05/24/2026 12:56:07 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: MtnClimber

Earth’s moon is much more unique.

The perfect visual match between the Moon and the Sun is an extraordinary cosmic “coincidence”, driven by the fact that the Sun is roughly 400 times larger than the Moon but also 400 times farther away. This precise ratio allows the Moon to perfectly blot out the Sun’s blinding disk, a phenomenon unique to our current geological epoch since the Moon is steadily spiraling away from Earth at 1.5 inches per year. Human history has fortuitously intersected with this narrow temporary window, beating incredible astronomical odds to leverage these perfect total solar eclipses for groundbreaking scientific discoveries, from unlocking the secrets of the solar corona to proving Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity.

According to numbers currently accepted by modern science, finding a habitable planet with a moon that perfectly matches its sun’s apparent size is a microscopic 1 in 100,000 (0.001%) cosmic rarity. This near-impossible alignment requires a planet to clear three strict hurdles: first, it must sit in the habitable zone (a 22% chance); second, it must survive a rare, glancing planetary collision to form a massive moon (a 1% chance); and third, it must be observed during the brief 0.5% window of its history before tidal forces push the moon too far away. Multiplying these narrow odds reveals that Earth is a true galactic lottery ticket, standing out as one of the few places in the universe where an intelligent civilization can look up and witness a mathematically perfect total solar eclipse.

It’s almost as if Someone designed our moon for a purpose, to humanity’s benefit.


8 posted on 05/24/2026 12:59:44 PM PDT by unlearner (See my about page for "God's Promises During Tribulation".)
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