Fourth planet from the Sun is Mars. It’s also known as “Red Planet”. The surface of Mars is full of volcanoes, deserts and ice caps. Mars has also moons over it. How many moons does Mars has?

Mars has two moons. One of them is Phobos and other’s name is Deimos. Deimos is famous for its deep craters. These crater’s names are Swift and Voltaire. They are taking their name from literature books.

Swift crater’s name is coming from the writer of Gulliver’s Travel Jonathan Swift. In the “Voyage to Laputa” chapter of book, Swift says there are two moons of Laputa.

Other crater’s name is Voltaire because in the Micromégas story of Voltaire, there a referring to Mars with its two moons.

Phobos and Deimos discovered in 1877. They discoveried by scientists in US Naval Observatory, Washington. There was lots of talks about Martian moons but there was no exact discovery before 1877.



There are lots of controversies about Mars moons origin. Some scientists believe that Mars’s surface is so thick that it’s impossible to hold a asteroid and when Phobos asteroid hit the surface it went back to Mars’ orbit.

Deimos’ nature and origin is some different. It’s possible to understand it from the movement and characteristic style of Deimos moon.

Phobos’ dimensions are 22.2 km and mass is 1.08×1016. Deimos’ dimensions are 12.6 km and mass in 2×1015. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s photos showed that Phobos is round and Deimos is triangle.