Posted on 10/28/2012 11:59:25 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: This moon is doomed. Mars, the red planet named for the Roman god of war, has two tiny moons, Phobos and Deimos, whose names are derived from the Greek for Fear and Panic. These martian moons may well be captured asteroids originating in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter or perhaps from even more distant reaches of the Solar System. The larger moon, Phobos, is indeed seen to be a cratered, asteroid-like object in this stunning color image from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, recorded at a resolution of about seven meters per pixel. But Phobos orbits so close to Mars -- about 5,800 kilometers above the surface compared to 400,000 kilometers for our Moon -- that gravitational tidal forces are dragging it down. In 100 million years or so Phobos will likely be shattered by stress caused by the relentless tidal forces, the debris forming a decaying ring around Mars.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
OK, my age is showing, it was a book when I read it as a youngster.
popcorn self-ping
Nice play on words there! I had forgotten who the author was, but your little hint clued me right in.
According to Wikipedia the book was published in 1726, 51 years prior to the ‘discovery’ of the moons.
The moons were described in some detail 51 years prior to their discovery.
There still are some real mysteries left to solve, aren’t there?
I’m sick with worry about this poor, doomed moon. Only 100 million years to live! What a tragedy.
And what is that circuit board pattern in white/silver doing there, anyway?
Yup, and you can see where the shorts between runs happened.
Scrape the bad stuff out, wire around, power up and see what happens :)
I’ll grab my gear and supplies and get right on that. You coming?
Before I retired 14 years ago, I was working with a $2000 Pace X-20 binocular microscope and a $2500 Pace solder/desolder station, don't know if even they would help me now days, LOL!
Well, maybe next time.
100 million years?.......I’ll wait....
The lines are caused by ejecta from craters, some of the craters have been superseded by other impacts.
Asteroids won’t do it, dwarf planets might work. Mars is only 1/8 the mass of Earth. :’)
Red Planet’s Ancient Equator Located
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1390424/posts
Swift had an astronomer friend who gave him the idea, they were speculative and the characteristics of the fictional moons don’t match those of the real moons.
Jonathan Swift and the Moons of Mars
Ken D. Moss
http://www.catastrophism.com/cdrom/pubs/journals/kronos/vol0804/index.htm
The long lines of small craters Voyager first revealed on distant objects used to look to me like the artifacts of ancient strafing runs.
But after seeing Chandra-Levy break into a string of smaller objects and pummel Jupiter, I am convinced that the lines we see are the result of these planetoids (for like of a better term) running into “rings” of debris.
That should be 151 years, not 51 years.
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