Re: Natural Satellites

From: Allen Thomson (thomsona@flash.net)
Date: Fri Jun 09 2000 - 12:24:06 PDT

  • Next message: Alan Pickup: "Decay watch: 2000 Jun 9"

    Sigh.
    
    As long as we've arrived here, I'll note that there is another perplexing
    problem of this sort: Deimos and Phobos.  Particularly Phobos, because it's
    below synchronous altitude and tidal effects are causing it to move toward
    Mars, rather than to retreat like our own moon is -- let us be thankful --
    doing.   Some few tens of millions of years from now, Phobos will either be
    tidally disrupted into a ring or crash.
    
    Both bodies sure look like captured asteroids, but Mars is an unpromising
    body to perform such a capture into the moons' present orbits.  Various
    alternative explanations have been offered for where they came from, but the
    whole matter is still very murky.
    
    Me, I think they're artificial satellites, and thus on-charter for SeeSat.
    (Not really) ;-)
    
    
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