The Solar System - Word Search - PUZZLE #8 DEIMOS - August 2025

PUZZLE #8 - DEIMOS 

IN-CONTEXT WORD DEFINITIONS

Outer Moon: Deimos is the outer moon of Mars, orbiting farther from the planet than its twin, Phobos. It travels at a distance of about 23,460 kilometers (14,580 miles) from the Martian surface.

Dread: The name Deimos means "dread" in Greek mythology. Deimos was the twin brother of Phobos and the son of Ares (Mars), symbolizing the terror and panic that accompany war.

Smaller: Deimos is smaller than Phobos and one of the smallest moons in the solar system — only about 12.4 km (7.7 miles) across at its widest point.

Smoother: Compared to Phobos, Deimos has a smoother appearance, with fewer large craters. This is likely due to regolith (loose surface material) that gradually covers and softens surface features over time.

Voltaire: The name Deimos was partially inspired by Voltaire, a French philosopher who predicted that Mars might have two moons in his 1752 science fiction story Micromégas — over 100 years before their discovery.

Swift: Jonathan Swift, the author of Gulliver’s Travels (1726), also wrote about two Martian moons before they were discovered. In honor of this, craters on Deimos have been named after Swift and Voltaire.

Tidal Acceleration: Deimos is experiencing tidal acceleration, a gravitational effect where Mars slowly pulls on the moon, causing it to drift farther away over time — the opposite of Phobos, which is spiraling inward.

DEIMOS: DEIMOS refers to this small, distant natural satellite of Mars. It was discovered in 1877 by American astronomer Asaph Hall, shortly after he discovered Phobos.

Low Gravity: Deimos has extremely low gravity, around 0.003 m/s² — so weak that a person could jump off the moon’s surface into space with enough force. This makes landing and moving on it a technical challenge.

Secret Word: Because of tidal acceleration, this martian moon is very slowly escaping Mars’s gravity. Over billions of years, it may reach a point where it could leave Mars’s orbit entirely.