ISRO clicks pictures of Mars' elusive moon Phobos, shares on social media

Hyderabad : The Indian Space Research Organisation ( ISRO) has shared a picture of a mysterious moon of planet Mars, PHOBOS, which has been clicked by the Mars Orbiter Mission also known as Mangalyaan. The picture was clicked on July 1 by the Mars Colour Camera.

Sharing the picture on Twitter, ISRO wrote, "A recent image of the mysterious moon of Mars, Phobos, as captured by India's Mars Orbiter Mission."

"Mars Colour Camera (MCC) onboard Mars Orbiter Mission has imaged Phobos, the closest and biggest moon of Mars, on July 1 when MOM was about 7,200 kilometres from Mars and at 4,200 kilometres from Phobos," ISRO said.

"Phobos is largely believed to be made up of carbonaceous chondrites. The violent phase that Phobos has encountered is seen in the large section gouged out from a past collision, (Stickney crater) and bouncing ejecta. Stickney, the largest crater on Phobos along with the other craters (Shklovsky, Roche and Grildrig) are also seen in this image," ISRO further said.

The mission was launched on November 5, 2013, by PSLV-C25, an expandable launch system, and entered the Martian orbit on September 24, 2014, in its first attempt.