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Some of the peculiarities of the moon orbits of Mars Phobos and Deimos can be described as two fragments separating from a larger moon.
In an article published in Nature Astronomy, Swiss planetary scientists speculated that the aforementioned Mars moon shattered 3 billion years ago.
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The scientists said: “It is traditionally believed that Phobos and Deimos are two asteroids captured by the force of gravitational pull from Mars. But they orbit in perfect circular orbits that pass over the equator of the red planet, which contradicts the previously agreed theory and can only be explained by being two parts of a larger space object orbiting Mars in the distant past.
It is reported that Phobos has a diameter of 11 km. As for Demos, it is no more than 6 kilometers in diameter and can be compared to medium-sized asteroids.
Scientists expect that Mars will soon lose both, and in particular they say that Phobos could be destroyed after 20 to 40 million years by the influence of the gravitational force of Mars, which will lead to the formation of ‘a ring of gas and dust in the orbit of Mars.
As for Demos, he is still moving away from the other planet.
A team of Swiss scientists led by Domenico Giardini has prepared a computer model of the anomalous orbits of Phobos and Deimos, and another model of how Mars has handled its moon over billions of years.
Both computer models showed that the orbit of Phobos 3 billion years ago was completely identical to that of Demos. This indicates that Phobos and Deimos were in the last two parts of a larger space object that shattered almost 3 billion years ago as a result of a collision with another space object.
It should be noted that the Japanese MMX probe, which will reach Mars orbit after two years, will be responsible for confirming or refuting this hypothesis. Planetologists hope to examine the cores of Phobos and Deimos with a radar that can discover traces of the ancient space disaster.
Source: TASS
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