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To: cripplecreek

Don’t wait up for it.
Phobos, one of the three satellites in our solar system whose period (7h 39m) is less than the rotational period of the primary planet (24h 37m for Mars), is losing orbital energy to surface tides it raises on Mars. As the orbit of Phobos decays and gets closer to Mars, Phobos may eventually be torn apart when the tidal forces of Mars overcome the cohesive bond between its particles. Phobos, already inside the “Roche Limit” where internal gravity alone is too weak to hold it together, could conceivably become a ring plane about Mars within the next 50 million years. http://cmex.ihmc.us/CMEX/data/VOViews/MOONS.HTM


14 posted on 11/07/2009 4:05:07 PM PST by outofsalt ("If History teaches us anything it's that history rarely teaches us anything")
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To: outofsalt

I’ll keep my eyes peeled. LOL


15 posted on 11/07/2009 4:07:18 PM PST by cripplecreek (Seniors, the new shovel ready project under socialized medicine.)
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