Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Phobos (systematic designation: Mars I) is the larger and closer of the two moons of Mars, the other being Deimos. It is named after the Greek god Phobos (which means "fear"), a son of Ares (Mars). A small, irregularly shaped object, Phobos orbits about 9,377 km (5,827 mi) from the center of Mars, closer to its primary than any other known planetary moon.Phobos was discovered by astronomer Asaph Hall on August 18, 1877, at the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., at about 09:14 Greenwich Mean Time (contemporary sources, using the pre-1925 astronomical convention that began the day at noon, give the time of discovery as August 17 16:06 Washington mean time).