The random levelling of Damos in front of Jupiter on February 14, 2022 allowed scientists to determine more accurately the position and orbit of the moon of Mars, so by measuring the duration of the eclipse — when the light from one celestial body is blocked by another — it is possible to calculate the orbit.
This levelling is very unusual because Damos must be in the orbit of Jupiter's satellites so that the leveling itself can take place.
An animated sequence of 80 high-resolution stereo cameras shows the uneven surface of a small moon of 15 km in diameter when it passes in front of Jupiter. Gas giant satellites look like little white spots because they're almost 750 million km away from Mars Express. This stunning distance is five times the distance between Earth and the Sun.
First animation shows Damos passing in front of the icy moon, Europe, then the biggest satellite of the solar system, Ganymede, disappears from sight, and then the gas giant Jupiter, which appeared as a big white spot in the center, disappears behind Damos.
After Deimos covers the extremely active volcanic moon of Io, which is the same size as the Earth's moon, and finally, crater-covered moon Callisto disappears behind Damos.
It seems that Damos is moving up and down the animation because of the small swinging movements of Mars Express. At this point, he is spinning to put the HRSC camera in the right position. Two long antennas of radar are also contributing to small vibrations.