A mission to survey the results of a deliberate crash between an asteroid and a NASA spacecraft has taken stunning images of Mars and its moon Deimos

The results of Hera's fly-by could ultimately tell us whether Deimos is a captured asteroid or made from debris from a giant impact on Mars.

Hera spacecraft captured rare images of Deimos, one of Mars’ two moons, from 621 miles away while en route to the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos. Like our moon, Deimos is tidally locked to Mars, meaning the same side always faces the planet—the only side visible to rovers on the Martian surface.

On the way to investigate the scene of a historic asteroid collision, a European spacecraft swung by Mars and captured rare images of the red planet's mysterious small moon Deimos, the European Space Agency said Thursday.