Phobos, one of Mars’ moons, is believed to have broken up into a ring of debris and then reformed into a moon. In 70 million years, Mars may have a new set of planetary rings and one fewer moon.
Researchers have long theorized about the origin of Mars’ moons and whether there ever was a ring around the “Red Planet.” According to research published by Purdue University scientists in March 2017, the Martian moon Phobos is believed to have repeatedly broken up into a ring of debris and then reunited into a moon. If this theory is correct, in 70 million years Mars will have a new set of planetary rings and one fewer moon. Astronomers think that about 4.3 billion years ago, Mars collided with a large object that disintegrated and formed planetary rings. Scientists believe these rings eventually formed on Mars’ current moons Phobos and Deimos. However, due to the planet’s tidal forces, Phobos is gradually decaying and shrinking. They hypothesize that in about 70 million years Phobos will break up to form a new set of planetary rings.
Read more about planetary rings:
The “Roche limit” is the minimum distance at which a moon orbiting a celestial body can remain intact. Phobos will break once this limit is exceeded.
Planetary rings are most often associated with the Jovian planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Planetary rings are composed of rock, ice and dust particles of various sizes.
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