Perseverance Rover Captures First Earth Occultation by Phobos

NASA’s Perseverance rover captured a series of images showing Earth disappearing behind the Martian moon Phobos on July 2, 2026. This marks the first time humanity has observed such an occultation of Earth from the surface of another planet.

The event was recorded by the rover’s Mastcam-Z instrument at about 7 p.m. local solar time on Mars, during the 1,907th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The composite image reveals Earth as a small bright dot moving from the upper left to lower right, while Phobos sweeps from lower left to upper right, with Earth vanishing behind the moon’s shadowed edge in the third frame.

This observation is significant because it provides a unique perspective of our planet from Mars, demonstrating the capabilities of the rover’s imaging system. According to Justin Maki, Mastcam-Z deputy principal investigator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the composite image is a “unique Earth self-portrait” with a “Phobos photobomb.”

At the time of the occultation, Phobos, a potato-shaped moon about 17 miles (27 kilometers) across at its widest, was roughly 4,850 miles (7,800 kilometers) from Mars, appearing about one-third the width of Earth’s Moon as seen from our planet. Earth was approximately 195 million miles (314 million kilometers) away, reduced to a single pixel-size dot. Mark Lemmon, a Mastcam-Z co-investigator at the Space Science Institute, noted that planning such an observation requires both careful timing and luck.

Perseverance has previously observed transits of Phobos and Deimos crossing the Sun, which are informally called “Martian solar eclipses.” The July 2 event, however, was an occultation, where a larger-appearing body completely blocks a smaller one from view. The rover is operated by JPL, which is managed by Caltech for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, with Arizona State University leading Mastcam-Z operations.

NASA announced the observation on August 5, 2026, as part of ongoing Mars exploration efforts. The images contribute to the broader study of Martian moons and planetary science, with Perseverance continuing its mission in Jezero Crater.