Deimos: A Small Martian Moon
Mars has two tiny moons,
Phobos and
Deimos.
Pictured above is
Deimos, the smaller moon of Mars.
In fact, Deimos is one of the smallest known moons in the
Solar System measuring only nine miles across.
The diminutive Martian moons were discovered in 1877 by
Asaph Hall,
an American astronomer
working at the
US Naval Observatory
in Washington D.C.
The existence of two Martian moons was predicted around 1610 by
Johannes Kepler,
the astronomer who derived the laws of planetary motion.
In this case,
Kepler's prediction was not based on scientific principles, but
his writings and ideas were so influential that the two Martian moons are discussed in works of fiction such as
Jonathan Swift's
Gulliver's Travels,
written in 1726, over 150 years before their
actual discovery.