A photo from open sources
In the next 20-40 million years around Mars may appear rings like Saturn’s. However, before that he will have to lose its satellite Phobos, which under the influence of tidal forces in direct sense will fall to the surface of the planet – American said researchers.
For those who will look at the night sky from the surface of the Earth, space will not look exactly like we see it now.
According to the American scientists in a few dozen million years Mars may be on the list of those planets that have characteristic rings, like Saturn.
Tushar Mithall and Benjamin Black, scientists from California University of Berkeley, in a statement to Nature Geoscience reported that to create such rings Mars will have to “dissolve” your one of its companions – Phobos. It has become known after a more detailed study of the structure of the satellite, which is very different from other similar bodies.
Recently, astronomers have learned that Phobos does not have constant orbit, and every hundred years it approaches Mars by 2 meter.
“It is known that our moon, the moon, is only a few miles away from us. a few centimeters every year, but in the case of the satellite of Mars the opposite is true. After many millions of years, Phobos is sure to collide with Mars or explode, “says Black. In the Solar the Mars system – so far the only planet with a similar satellite, which does not move away from the surface of the planet, but rather – rapidly approaching her.
According to researchers, the study of “falling” satellites allows you to learn more about the conditions of existence of the Solar systems many millions of years ago when the number of planets exceeded the number of satellites.
According to some estimates, 20-30 percent of the planets since satellites who are constantly approaching him and thereby lead the planet to imminent death. Quite it is possible that numerous craters on the surface of Red planets “were formed precisely by the fall of the remnants of satellites on Mars.
The main factor determining the removal or approximation satellite to the surface of the planet, is a tidal interaction. For example, the characteristic “delay” of our moon with respect to rotation Earth leads to the formation of tidal waves in the oceans and rocks, which provide braking.
At the same time, according to the law of conservation of angular momentum, the moon slowly but continuously moving away from the Earth.
To predict the possible fate of Phobos, researchers studied its hardness, given the cohesion of the rocks. To do this, they spent study of the Martian rock from meteorites that fell to Earth. Well and most importantly, a study of the 10-km Stickney crater was conducted on Phobos.
According to scientists, a body that once fell on a satellite Mars almost destroyed it. According to calculations, the average density satellite is 1860 kilograms / cubic meter. It means that the satellite is a porous accumulation of large numbers cosmic dust and stones that keeps from decay gravitational attraction.
According to scientists, given the available information and results conducted studies, complete destruction of Phobos may occur somewhere in 20-40 million years. Of its residues and may rings form around Mars.
Moon Mars Saturn Solar System
