Now you know the answer to ”does Mars have rings?” and a little about a rings in the planet’s future. That's the theory put forth by NASA-funded scientists at Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana, whose findings were published in the journal Nature Geoscience. steve@purdue.edu / venere@purdue.edu, Managed by the Mars Exploration Program and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, [[MODULE||videos.video||ParseModule=No&videoid=140&includevideojs=true]]. In anywhere from 10 million to 100 million years it will crash into the planet forming a ring system as the debris is ejected back into space. Scientist believe that the particle have been captured by a planet’s gravity and are prevented from combining into a moon by that gravity. Many moons in our Solar System have come to orbit their primaries in this fashion. Twitch: https://twitch.tv/fcain A theory exists that Mars’ large North Polar Basin or Borealis Basin, which covers about 40 percent of the planet in its northern hemisphere, was created by that impact, sending debris into space. And More…, Episode 697: Interview: Theoretical Physicist Dr. Peter Woit, Episode 696: Open Space 94: Is It Realistic to Declare a "Free Mars"? After a million or so years, that ring system will collapse back onto the planet’s surface, causing an extensive crater field. If a large enough asteroid were to impact a planet, dust and rock debris would be thrown into space. If planetary rings interest you, NASA has plenty of information on their website. For more information about NASA missions investigating Mars, visit: https://mars.nasa.gov/, Guy Webster Scientists believe that the debris will fall back to the planet, but do not know how long it would take. And More…, Episode 694: Interview: Fred Watson, Australia's Astronomer at Large, Episode 693: Open Space 92: Why I Hate Embargoed News Stories, and More…, Episode 692: Open Space 91: Any Updates on Venus? And More…, Episode 695: Q&A 130: Does the Dark Forest Explain the Fermi Paradox? And More…, Episode 691: Interview: Seth Shostak from the SETI Institute, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Join our 836 patrons! Not Right Now, But Maybe One Day. One theory suggests that Mars' large North Polar Basin or Borealis Basin -- which covers about 40 percent of the planet in its northern hemisphere -- was created by that impact, sending debris into space. Does Mars Have Rings? A new theory by Purdue University scientists says that the Martian moon Phobos might eventually break apart, forming a ring around the red planet. David Minton and Andrew Hesselbrock developed a model that suggests that debris that was pushed into space from an asteroid or other body slamming into Mars around 4.3 billion years ago alternates between becoming a planetary ring and clumping together to form a moon. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0-KklSGlCiJDwOPdR2EUcg/, Astronomy Cast: Over time, Mars' gravitational pull would have pulled that moon toward the planet until it reached the Roche limit, the distance within which a planet's tidal forces will break apart a celestial body that is held together only by gravity. Also, Phobos would have had to form far from Mars and would have had to cross through the resonance of Deimos, the outer of Mars' two moons. But Deimos' orbit is within one degree of Mars' equator, suggesting Phobos has had no effect on Deimos. Karla Thompson – @karlaii / https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEItkORQYd4Wf0TpgYI_1fw A sequence of images from NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover shows one of Mars’ two moons, Phobos, passing directly in front of the other, Deimos, in 2013. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems/Texas A&M Univ. Mars is red, but it's possible that one of our closest neighbors also had rings at one point and may have them again someday. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window). Yea, I knew Mars doesn’t have rings, Saturn does..! That debris would then be captured by the planet’s gravity. Minton and Hesselbrock will now focus their work on either the dynamics of the first set of rings that formed or the materials that have rained down on Mars from disintegration of moons. We also talk about Saturn’s rings in Episode 59: Saturn. Each time a moon broke apart and reformed from the resulting ring, its successor moon would be five times smaller than the last, according to the model, and debris would have rained down on the planet, possibly explaining enigmatic sedimentary deposits found near Mars' equator. “That large impact would have blasted enough material off the surface of Mars to form a ring,” Hesselbrock says. And here’s some more information about what Saturn’s rings are made of. guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov, Laurie Cantillo / Dwayne Brown "Not much has happened to Deimos' orbit since it formed," Minton said. "And now it's possible to study that material.". Not Right Now, But Maybe One Day. Hesselbrock and Minton's model suggests that as the ring formed, and the debris slowly moved away from the Red Planet and spread out, it began to clump and eventually formed a moon. Now you know the answer to ”does Mars have rings?” and a little about a rings in the planet’s future. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Wallace Arthur is an evolutionary biologist and emeritus professor of Zoology at the National University of Ireland, Galway. 202-358-1077 / 202-358-1726