Mars Will Be A Ringed Planet Once Gravity Shreds Its Crumbling Moon
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Mars is on track to become the fifth planet in our solar system to have a ring on it.
Scientists at UC Berkeley say gravity is going to shred the red planet's largest moon Phobos, and all the dust and rubble will leave behind a huge ring. They published their findings in an article titled 'Martian Ring System,' in the October issue of Nature Geoscience.
In fact, Mars has two moonlets -- Phobos and Deimos. Phobos, which measures only 22 kilometers across, orbits its host 3 times a day, at just 3,700 miles above the Martian surface. Researchers say the tiny moon is spiraling on a collision course with its host because of the tidal pull.
"Our analysis suggests that much of Phobos is composed of weak, heavily damaged materials," write co-authors Benjamin Black and Tushar Mittai. "We suggest that with continued inward migration of the moon - the weakest material will disperse tidally in 20-40 million years to form a Martian ring."
Four other planets in our solar system have rings -- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. They are all gas giants.
When the Martian moon disintegrates, it will become the first ring to form around a rocky planet.
The researchers say any large pieces that escape the "tidal breakup" of Phobos will eventually collide with Mars, and form "highly oblique," low-impact craters.