PHOBOS – Doomed Martian Moon | Moons Of Mars
PHOBOS – In this topic, we are going to know and learn about one of the moons of Mars, the larger moon known as Phobos.
It is the largest and innermost moon of Mars which orbits about a few thousand miles away from the Red Planet, according to Space.
It was initially theorized by German astronomer Johannes Kepler but was later confirmed and discovered by American astronomer Asaph Hall. What made them hard to discover was due to their closeness to the planet.
The moon was named after one of the twin sons of Ares, the Greek god of war, and is known to be the god or personification of fear, hance the name where the term Phobia is derived from. The other moon is named Deimos.
The moon is dark gray in color and is heavily cratered. It is one of the known darkest, dull objects in the solar system. It is said that they are made of somewhat akin to Type I or II carbonaceous chondrites, which is usually seen on dwarf planets or asteroids.
The reason that it is known as the Doomed Martian Moon is because it is spiraling inward at a rate of 1.8 per year. In about 50 million years, it is expected to collide with Mars or become a ring around it.
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