Space

APOD: 2026 October 9 – Stickney Crater

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Based on a feed excerpt; full article content has not been acquired. Source evidence retrieved 09/10/2026, 04:50:24 UTC.

Briefings

The APOD article from October 9, 2026, details Stickney Crater on Phobos, the largest impact crater on the Martian moon. Recorded by HiRISE in March 2008, the crater is nearly half the diameter of Phobos itself. Evidence suggests the impact occurred close to shattering the moon, and surface gravity is less than 1/1000th of Earth's. The origin of grooves remains mysterious, possibly linked to tidal stresses or the impact itself.

Key points

• Stickney Crater is the largest crater on Phobos, named after mathematician Chloe Angeline Stickney Hall and astronomer Asaph Hall, who discovered the moon in 1877.
• The crater is nearly half the diameter of Phobos itself, and the impact that formed it likely came close to shattering the tiny moon.

Context and limitations

This snapshot covers Stickney Crater and its surrounding context as of October 9, 2026. It does not include future predictions, nor does it provide data on the crater's formation date or the specific impactor's mass.

Generated by Bittrees-hosted qwen35-2b sha256:aaf42c8b7c3c on 09/10/2026, 04:56:50 UTC. Based on publisher-provided feed evidence; may not cover the full original article. Check the source for details.

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