The largest moon, Phobos, is shaped like a potato and measures about 27 kilometers at its widest point. It is a satellite that orbits about 6,000 km from the surface of Mars every 7.6 hours.
Deimos, Mars’ smallest moon, is shaped like a potato like Phobos, but is only about 15 kilometers wide at its thickest point. It orbits about 20,000 km above the surface of Mars every 30.3 hours.
Phobos caused this solar eclipsebut Phobos orbits almost above Mars’ equator and has a short orbital period. For this reason, it causes solar eclipses almost every day. Furthermore, the time is very short, about 30 seconds.
Phobos is gradually approaching Mars and is predicted to collide with the planet in about 50 million years.
How did Phobos become a satellite of Mars?
It is not clear how Phobos, nor Deimos, became Martian moons. There are several theories.
Until now, the dominant theory was capture theory. The idea is that an asteroid that passed by was captured by the gravitational pull of Mars. This explains the asteroid-like appearance of Phobos and Deimos.
On the contrary, the “giant impact theory” has become popular recently. The idea is that a huge celestial body collided with Mars and flying debris formed a disk around the planet, from which Phobos and Deimos were formed. If this theory is correct, Phobos and Deimos would be rich in materials from Mars.
The northern hemisphere of Mars is home to the largest crater in the Solar System, known as ‘Boreal Planitia’. A computer simulation study has revealed that Phobos and Deimos could have been formed by the collision of giant bodies like the one that formed the Borealis Planitia.
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