A NASA composite released on August 5, 2026, shows Earth as a small bright dot passing behind the Martian moon Phobos, as seen by the Mastcam-Z instrument aboard the Perseverance rover. According to the agency, the images were taken on July 2, 2026, the 1,907th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.

The main composite combines seven images, with Earth moving from upper left to lower right. A separately annotated version joins nine images; an inset of five shows Earth passing behind Phobos, while a marked rectangle indicates the patch of sky imaged repeatedly. A second figure labels the local solar time of the five occultation images.

NASA says the black background results from processing that removed extraneous light to enhance detail. The images were taken about 40 minutes after sunset, when the Martian sky's gray is described as close to true color. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory built and manages rover operations, and Arizona State University leads Mastcam-Z with Malin Space Science Systems.