Key facts
- Scale fact
- 12 kmmean diameter
- Composition
- C-type asteroid-like material and regolith
Deimos
12 kmmean diameter
Visual creditMars Reconnaissance Orbiter 2013 / NASA / JPL / University of Arizona / Public domainSource: Wikimedia Commons
Details
Deimos is the smaller, outer moon of Mars, only about 12 kilometers across. Its dusty regolith softens many of its craters, giving this dark asteroid-like moon a smoother face than its larger sibling Phobos.
Deimos is heavily cratered, but a thick layer of loose regolith partly fills many craters and makes it look smoother than Phobos. Impacts can launch debris away from the moon’s weak gravity; Mars retains some of that material near Deimos’s orbit, allowing it to settle back onto the surface as dust.
Links
- Universe journey
- Sun & inner planets
- Wikipedia
- Deimos on Wikipedia
Size neighbors
Objects near Deimos on the scale
On the logarithmic size axis, Deimos falls between Halley's Comet and 951 Gaspra. The band uses nearby Small irregular moon records.
Sources
References for Deimos
Measurements and descriptive context are compiled by the Scale of Space team from the references below. If you find an error, please let us know.
- Deimos — Wikipedia
- Visual reference: Wikimedia Commons (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter 2013 / NASA / JPL / University of Arizona, Public domain)
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About
Scale of Space is a scroll-based journey through the universe, placing objects on a single logarithmic scale so you can compare size across an unbroken range.
Guides explain selected parts of that range, while focused views filter the objects by subject.