The satellites of the Red Planet Phobos and Deimos are torn apart by gravity
The uniqueness of Saturn in our solar system is threatened by Mars. He himself tears apart his satellites by the forces of gravity - Phobos and Deimos, discovered in 1877. Phobos has a radius of about 11 kilometers, it is almost 7 times larger than Deimos and is located much closer to Mars. Phobos orbits the planet in 7 hours 39 minutes.
Huge debris can create rings like those of Saturn around the Red Planet. Images taken by the satellites Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN), which flew to Mars in 2013, show that a lot of dust from Phobos and Deimos is already rotating around it at a distance of 150 to 1000 kilometers. True, the rings of the Red Planet will not appear tomorrow, it will take several tens of millions of years to wait.
Deimos has the most chances to at least partially survive. Phobos will collapse first. According to the Indian astronomer Jayesh Pabari, most of the dust is interplanetary, but 0.6% is dust from Phobos and Deimos.
“Large particles of rings,” he told the Daily Mail, “eventually fly up to Mars. In addition, the force of gravity of Mars continues to attract Phobos to it. Within 20-70 million years, it will begin to tear the satellite apart."
Unlike our Moon, the satellites of Mars are gradually approaching it. The gravitational forces of the Red Planet create furrows on the surface of Phobos from 100 to 200 meters wide and from 10 to 30 meters deep. Phobos consists of less solid rocks in comparison with Deimos and is closer to it, so its destruction, according to scientists, is inevitable.
Rings at Saturn were formed in about the same way.
Zakhar RADOV
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