‘Like asteroids:’ Study says Martian moons likely blown off planet’s surface
EDMONTON — New research suggests Mars’ moons were once part of the planet, blasted into space by some cataclysmic collision long ago.
Until now, the most common theory was that Deimos and Phobos were once asteroids, captured into orbit by Mars’ gravitational field.
“They kind of look like asteroids,” said Chris Herd, a planetary geologist at the University of Alberta and a co-author of a new paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.
“They’re really pockmarked with craters and they have those characteristics that make them look like asteroids we’ve seen farther out.”