What Is Deimos?
Deimos, the smaller but the outer most satellite of Mars was discovered by Asaph Hall, the American astronomer who also discovered the other moon of Mars, Phobos in a week’s time. Deimos (the root word for ‘dread’) is the son of Ares (same as Mars, the Roman God of war) in Greek Mythology. Deimos appears to be a dark lump of rock composed of carbonaceous rocks and ice, similar to that of C-type asteroids found in the outer asteroid belt. Its orbital time of 34.5 hours is longer than the Martian solar day. Deimos rises in the east and sets in the west which is in the converse for Phobos, the other moon of Mars. One of the most interesting features of Deimos is its heavily cratered surface. The surface is free of any debris due to its low gravitational pull and escape velocity. Obviously, it is devoid of any atmosphere.
