Martian moons break up cyclically, forming a ring around the planet to become moons again

The process of creating the moon of Mars may explain the slightly inclined orbit of Deimos.

Two moons revolve around Mars: Phobos and Deimos. For many years, scientists assumed that both moons are actually asteroids captured by the planet’s gravity from the Planetoid Belt. New research, however, indicates that Deimos’ orbit contradicts this theory.

Deimos is slightly inclined relative to the Mars equator, however, the inclination is so slight (2 degrees) that so far has been overlooked by most scientists.

The very fact that Deimos’s slope does not agree with the Mars equator plane has never somehow taken anyone to pay attention to him – says Matija Cuk, researcher at the SETI Institute. However, when we came to the explanation of this fact, we came back to this data and it turned out that Deimos hides another secret.

Phobos will approach Mars enough that the planet’s gravity will tear it apart and form a ring.

The explanation came to scientists as they analyzed the motion of Phobos, which is gradually approaching the spiral surface of Mars. With time, it will get close enough that the gravity of the planet will simply tear it apart, and a ring will form from its remains.

Other authors of the study suppose that the future of Phobos will not be a one-time event. When the remains of the broken moon form a ring , they will eventually merge into a new moon. This not only just happens in the case of Phobos, but also has already happened before in the history of Mars. This process of rupture and the formation of a new moon can explain the slope of Deimos’ orbit.

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