Accident alert! NASA takes a picture of “space potato” on collision course with Mars | See photo

One of Mars’ two moons, Phobos, is on its way to collide with the giant Red Planet. The National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) recently released an image of the lumpy astronomical object that looks like a potato traveling through space. Phobos got its lumpy shape because of its weak gravity. Since gravity wasn’t strong enough to pull the object into a spherical shape, Phobos got a lumpy shape.

“Phobos is the larger of Mars’ two moons, but it’s still only about 27 by 22 by 18 kilometers in diameter. Because Phobos is so small, its gravity isn’t enough to pull it into a spherical shape (like Earth’s moon), giving it its lumpy form,” NASA wrote on X.

About the moon Phobos

The moons of Mars are among the smallest in the solar system. However, Phobos is comparatively larger than its counterpart Deimos. Phobos orbits the Martian surface just 6,000 kilometers above it and is the only moon that orbits so close to its planet. Phobos orbits Mars three times a day, meaning you can see this “space potato” on the Martian surface three times a day. In contrast, another Martian moon, Deimos, takes nearly 30 hours to complete each orbit.