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Earth's moon is 'the Moon" because it was the only one humans had ever seen until 1610. That's when Galileo discovered moons orbiting Jupiter. By 1876 astronomers had found moons around all of the outer planets. So why did it take until 1877 for someone to find the moons of our neighbor Mars?

Moons of Mars – Facts for Kids

How big do the moons of Mars appear from the surface of the planet, compared to the size of Earth's moon seen from Earth? The illustration shows Deimos on the far left alongside Phobos, as they were photographed together by NASA's Curiosity rover. And then you'll recognize our Moon on the right.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems/Texas A&M University

There is a nice little cartoon video (less than 2 minutes) about the two moons. You can see The Moons of Mars Explained -- Phobos & Deimos here.

But please note: The "most popular theory" about the origin of the moons is not any longer that they were captured asteroids. The most popular theory is the one I put in the article.

Mars could gain a ring in 10-20 million years when its moon Phobos is torn to shreds by Mars gravity.

Image by Tushar Mittal using Celestia 2001-2010, Celestia Development Team.