Grooves on Phobos
The long, shallow grooves lining the surface of Phobos are likely early signs of the structural failure that will ultimately destroy this moon of Mars. Initially, scientists had thought the grooves were created by the massive impact that made Stickney crater (lower right). New modeling indicates that the grooves on Mars' moon Phobos could be produced by tidal forces, the mutual gravitational pull of the planet and the moon. Orbiting 3,700 miles above the surface of Mars, Phobos is closer to its planet than any other moon in the solar system. Mars' gravity is drawing in Phobos, the larger of its two moons, by about feet every hundred years. Scientists expect the moon to be pulled apart in 30 to 50 million years.
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Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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Keywords: astronomy, close-, closeup, crater, ejecta, exploration, groove, grooves, mars, martian, moon, phobos, planet, planetary, rock, science, space, stickney, surface
