How many moons does Mars have?

McGruff

Mars has two small, irregular moons, Phobos and Deimos. http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/mars/moons.html Mars has two small moons: Phobos and Deimos. Phobos (fear) and Deimos (panic) were named after the horses that pulled the chariot of the Greek war god Ares, the counterpart to the Roman war god Mars. Both Phobos and Deimos were discovered in 1877 by American astronomer Asaph Hall. The moons appear to have surface materials similar to many asteroids in the outer asteroid belt, which leads most scientists to believe that Phobos and Deimos are captured asteroids. http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/facts/moons.html Apr 15 00, 2:03 PM

Odonnell

Mars Moons are Phobos and Deimos: Phobos is oblong in shape and heavily scarred with craters. For these reasons, it appears to be a captured asteroid. Mariner 9 first photographed the moon in 1971; Russia launched two Phobos probes to observe Phobos in July of 1988. Phobos 1 was sent an incorrect command and was lost; Phobos 2 was lost after returning several photographs of Phobos. Deimos, like Phobos, it is oblong in shape and heavily scarred with craters. It was first photographed by Mariner 9 in 1971. http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/MarsMoons.html Apr 15 00, 6:57 PM

Jesterr

According to a short SF story I read years ago, (and I forget what and by whom) there is a third moon, and it has a very low orbit. Bottomos Oct 12 07, 7:41 PM

McGruff

"My favorite form within the sci-fi genre is the short story, and one especially cute little tale that stuck in my head is about Mars. I read "The Holes Around Mars" by (Jerome) Bixby in an anthology, although it was most likely first published in a magazine. As with some of the best sci-fi stories, this one includes a good bit of humor. The story is about solving the mystery of a series of holes that the first human explorers discovered when they landed on the planet. Eventually, they find that these are caused by a moon orbiting so low that people have to duck so as not to be in its path. The final pun is a real groaner. Because the other two moons of Mars are called Phobos and Deimos, this lowest orbiting moon is named Bottomos." http://home.att.net/~larvalbug/archval8-03.html Oct 12 07, 8:55 PM