How the Biggest Mars' Moon Got Those Mysterious Grooves

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1:00So Mars has two moods. Phobos and Demos. And apart from the bizarre shape, there's nothing remarkable about them, except for one thing. Not so long ago, scientists discovered a strange phenomenon on the surface of Phobos. And they still can't find any explanation for it. What is this phenomenon? And what does it tell us about the history of our solar system? Let's find out. American astronomer Asaf Hall discovered Phobos and Demos back in 1877. Did you know that all the planets in our solar system are named after Greek and Roman deities? For example, Mars or Aries is the famous deity of war. That's why the satellites of this red planet were named after the Suns of Aries. Phobos and Demos. These beautiful names actually have creepy meanings. Fear and horror. In 1971, NASA's Mariner 9 Telescope took the first pictures.

2:04That's how we found out that these guys weren't at all like our moon. They had this weird shape, a strange and unstable orbit. Moreover, there are no other moons in the solar system that move as close to their parent planet as these two. Well, they are its Suns after all. But even though they are very close to Mars, if you were standing on the surface of the red planet, you would hardly be able to see them. That's because the curvature of Mars hides Phobos and Demos from view. Even if you were somewhere on the equator, Phobos would look like an ordinary asteroid to you, and Demos would look like a star. All because these satellites are basically crumbs compared to our moon, they're the smallest and least bright moons in the entire solar system, which is ironic considering their mighty names. Anyway, it seems that everything should be pretty clear with these two satellites. But nope, there's a problem. You see, scientists reconstruct the history of space based on the traces found on different

3:09space objects. Dents, scratches, cracks, all these things can tell us what happened billions of years ago. For a long time. Are you stuck staring at your W2? Our tax refund worry is holding you back. You probably have FOMO, the fear of messing up. The Fix? Using turbo tax on into a credit karma, they find every credit and deduction to help you get every refund dollar you deserve. Or your money back. It's time to overcome your fear of messing up and get your taxes done right. Start filing today in the Credit Karma app. You must be 18 years or older to purchase a membership and membership is subject qualifications.

4:13Visit samsclub.com slash yes and for details. Scientists were sure that, just like their Greek prototypes, FOMO's and Deimos were twins. But then, NASA's Viking Orbiter took new photos of the satellites. And that's when they discovered a significant difference between the two. The entire surface of FOMO's was covered with huge grooves. Those were a series of long, deep pits stretching from one end to FOMO's to the other. You may say, what's the big deal? All space objects have this kind of stuff on them. And yeah, there are other satellites with similar grooves and scratches. But none of them has as many as FOMO's. It's completely covered in grooves and they're huge up to 12 miles long and 660 feet wide. And that's not all. Some of these grooves intersect with others. This means that FOMO's has experienced not one, but many traumatic events.

5:14But what exactly happened to it? Actually, scientists are still not completely sure. However, they have a few ideas. And these theories can tell us not only about the past of FOMO's, but also predict its future. Theory 1. Asteroid Impact Well, the first suspect is quite obvious. There's a large, almost six mile wide crater on FOMO's. It's called Angeline Stickney. It was named after the wife of Assef Hall, the scientist who discovered the satellites. Adorable. So that's what the first theory sounds like. Once upon a time, an astronomical body crashed into FOMO's. The impact was so strong that it left a large crater. And the effect of the collision left a bunch of grooves everywhere on FOMO's. It sounds logical at first. However, scientists have noticed a flaw in this theory. They learned that these grooves actually forms not inside the crater, but next to it.

6:14So it wasn't a collision that created them. Besides, what about those grooves that intersect with the others? Or is it just a big cosmic coincidence? Well, the search for truth continued. Theory 2. It's all because of space debris. Yes, there's a difference between these two theories. In this case, the grooves aren't a direct consequence of the collision. Rather, it goes something like this. Something crashed into FOMO's. This impact caused a bunch of rocks to be thrown into space. Some of them were lost in the universe forever, but others were small enough to be pulled back to FOMO's. Passing next to the moon at a steep angle, they would crash into it, jumping away, and so on. And since the gravity of FOMO's is very weak, perhaps they couldn't stick to it. In other words, these rocks were continuously pulled toward and pushed off of the satellite for many, many years. This theory explains the intersecting grooves. It's because the rocks were constantly falling

7:18into those places. It sounds quite logical, but there's another problem. We don't see any boulders on Mars or on the surface of its moons, but all this debris was supposed to get trapped by gravity and remain somewhere in the planet's orbit. This or simply become part of FOMO's. In other words, if this were true, we'd find evidence of this theory under layers of dust, but that didn't happen, so this explanation didn't satisfy astronomers either. Therefore, they continued to look for the culprit. Maybe the grooves have nothing to do with Stickney Crater at all. Maybe the real culprit is something else, something even more powerful. The world moves fast. You work day, even faster, pitching products, drafting reports, analyzing data. Microsoft 365 Co-Pilot is your AI assistant for work. Built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint,

8:19and other Microsoft 365 apps you use, helping you quickly write, analyze, create, and summarize. So you can cut through clutter and clear path to your best work. Learn more at Microsoft.com, slash M365 Co-Pilot. Theory 3. Mars is a twist villain. The previous theories imply that Fobos and Demos were originally pieces of Mars. Like once upon a time they broke away from it and became satellites, just like our moon. But what if that wasn't the case? Observations made by NASA's Mars Global Surveyer show that Fobos and Demos are made up of elements which are mainly found in meteorites and asteroids. So what if Fobos and Demos are asteroids? There's an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Given the size, shape, and composition of Fobos and Demos, scientists have suggested that once upon a time they belonged to this belt. However, one day they flew out of it and then gravity pulled

9:26them to Mars. This phenomenon is called asteroid capture. It's very strange though. Yeah, the asteroid capture isn't uncommon, but these two have been flying next to Mars for what? Billions of years? It's weird that their orbits have remained the same. In addition, the atmosphere of Mars is very rarefied, and because of this, it could hardly capture any asteroids. In theory, they should have separated from Mars at the first opportunity. However, this didn't happen. It means that somehow they got stuck, and Mars immediately began to destroy them. Yep, an unexpected twist. In this version, Mars turns out to be a villain. By studying the past, we've found some evidence of future crimes. The mysterious grooves of Fobos could be caused by tidal forces between Mars and Fobos. The moon and Earth also exchanged these, slightly distorting each other. But since Fobos is much closer to Mars, the impact of gravitational forces is much

10:32stronger. In other words, the gravity of Mars is gradually destroying Fobos. Every 100 years, the satellite gets 0.7 inches closer to Mars. It also shrinks as much as 6.5 feet, becoming even more fragile and weaker. The smaller it gets, the more the tidal forces impact it, creating strange grooves and scratches on Fobos. Yep, somewhere in 30 to 50 million years, Fobos will either collide with Mars or disintegrate and turn into a bunch of small rocks. And then Mars will also have rings, like Saturn and Neptune. That's why Fobos is called the doomed Martian Moon. Anyway, these are all only theories, but the dramatic backstory of Fobos gives us an idea of how dynamic extraterrestrial objects can be. The more we learn about them, the more we discover about the secrets of the origin of not only Mars, but also other objects in our solar system. If one day we really colonize Mars,

11:37studying its moons can help us a lot. Let's hope that the upcoming MMX mission will reveal some of the most exciting secrets Mars's moons are hiding. This episode is brought to you by Athletic Brewing Company. No matter how you do game day, on the couch, in the crowd, or manning the snack table, Athletic Brewing fits right in. With a full lineup of non-alcoholic beer styles, you can enjoy bold flavors all game-long. No hangovers, no buzz, no subbing out for water in the second half. Stuck the fridge for tip-off with a variety of non-alcoholic craft styles available at your local grocery store or online at AthleticBrewing.com near beer, fit for all times. President Barack Obama Virginia, we are counting on you. Republicans want to steal enough seats in Congress to raid the next election and wield unchecked power for two more years, but you can stop them. By voting yes, by April 21st. Help put our elections back on a level playing field

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