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ORBONIX · MARS SYSTEM
DEIMOS
The smaller and more distant of Mars's
two natural satellites.
DEIMOS · MARS'S OUTER MOON
23,460 km
AVERAGE DISTANCE FROM MARS
12.4 km
AVERAGE DIAMETER
30.3 HOURS
ORBITAL PERIOD
~15 × 12 × 11 km
APPROX. DIMENSIONS
~1.5 × 10¹⁵ kg
ESTIMATED MASS
IRREGULAR
SHAPE
MARS'S OUTER MOON
Deimos is the smaller and more distant
of Mars's two natural satellites.
Like Phobos, Deimos has an irregular shape
and a heavily cratered surface. It is much
smaller and smoother-looking than Phobos
because its surface is covered by a layer
of loose material called regolith.
Deimos orbits Mars approximately every
30.3 hours and travels in the same general
direction as Mars's rotation.
From Mars, Deimos would appear as a small,
slow-moving object in the night sky.
The origin of Deimos is still not completely
understood. One possibility is that it may
be a captured asteroid.
SMALL MOON
Deimos is only about 12 kilometres across,
making it one of the smallest known natural
satellites of a planet.
DISTANT SATELLITE
Deimos orbits farther from Mars than
Phobos and takes about 30 hours to complete
one orbit.
IRREGULAR WORLD
Its irregular shape and heavily cratered
surface give Deimos an appearance more
similar to a small asteroid than a planet.
DID YOU KNOW?
Deimos is so small that its escape velocity
is only about 5.6 m/s.
IMAGE:
NASA / JPL-CALTECH / UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA /
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS