The planet Mars has two satellites. The first of these is phobos, the diameter of which is 22.5 kilometers. The second satellite of Mars is a diame with a diameter of 12.4 kilometers. Both satellites have the form of potatoes and turn to the planet of the same side. Like many other celestial bodies in the solar system, they are full of secrets. The main mystery is in their origin: at the moment there are two theories, and each of them is quite likely. Within the framework of this article, we find out that Mars satellites are represented, under what strange circumstances they were open and how they could appear at all. One of theories can explain why Mars has two satellites, and not more or less.
Interesting Facts about Phobos
Phobos is the biggest companion of Mars. It was opened in 1877 by the American scientist Asaf Hall. The name was given in honor of the ancient Greek God of Phobos, which personifies the fear. The satellite is located at a distance of about 6 thousand kilometers from the surface of Mars. In the middle of the XX century, scientists found that Phobos gradually approaches the surface of the planet and ultimately fall on it. But it will happen soon, only in millions of years. During this time, people can already build a colony on Mars and develop to such an extent that they will fly to other galaxies.
Interesting facts about Deamos
Satellite Dimim is almost two times less than Phobos. He was also opened in 1877, the same American astronomer Asaf Hall. The name was given in honor of the ancient Greek God Daimos, which personifies the horror. It is located at a distance of 23.5 thousand kilometers from Mars, if it is much further fobos. The surface of this satellite is smooth, but there are two crater on it. The first is called Swift and has a 1000-meter diameter. The second is Voltaire, the diameter of which is 1900 meters.
Opening of satellites Marsa
For the first time on the existence of Mars's companions, Johann Kepler was guessed by German astronomer in 1611. The discovery was made by a happy mistake. In the course of studying the works of Galileo Galileo, he found an anagram, which was deciphered as the Latin expression "Hello, Gemini, Mars." Subsequently, it turned out that in fact the sentence was encrypted the offer "The Highest Planet Trino I watched." In such an unusual way, Galileo Galilee described the case when Saturn seemed like a triple due to the presence of rings. In those days about the existence of the rings, no one had guess.
Also about the presence of Mars of two satellites spoke the writer Jonathan Swift in his novel "Gullover Travel". According to the plot, the discovery was made by astronomers of the fictional island of Laput. The work was written 150 years before the official discovery of Phobos and Deimos. The first satellite snapshots were obtained in 1909.
See also: Where and how can life arise on Mars?
How did Mars satellites formed?
There are two theory of origin of Phobos and Deimos. The first states that they were once ordinary asteroids. Flying by Mars, they could simply be attracted by the planet and thus become his companions. This assumption is like the truth, because Phobos and Dimos do not have an ideal round shape, like natural satellites of other planets. The snag is only that these space objects are circling around Mars on an almost perfect circle. And captured asteroids, according to scientists, would rotate on an elongated orbit.
The second version states that once for Mars had one satellite, but for some reason he split into Phobos and Dimimos. This assumption always seemed more believable, because the arguments against it almost do not exist. Moreover, recently in the scientific journal Nature Astronomy published research results that increase confidence in this version. Scientists from Switzerland recreated satellites inside the computer model and found out that they had ever moved on the same orbit for a long time.
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If this theory is correct, about 2.7 billion years ago, an asteroid fell to the only satellite of Mars and another heavenly object and split it. And that is why now the planet has two satellites. Neither larger and less. Of course, it is still just an assumption, but the answer to the question "Why Mars has two satellites?" Something sounds like that. It is also likely that Mars could have three satellites.