Mars could gain a ring in 10-20 million years when its moon Phobos is torn to shreds by tidal forces due to Mars’ gravitational pull. Credit: Image by Tushar Mittal using Celestia 2001-2010, Celestia Development Team.
In 10-20 million years, the moon will get so close to Mars that it’ll be shredded into a ring, eventually be torn apart by tidal forces and distributed in a ring around the planet, a study of the cohesiveness of Phobos has concluded. This would take about 10-20 million years, and the ring will persist for up to 100 million years before the dust falls into Mars’ atmosphere and burns up as ‘moon’ showers.
The loss is due to Phobos being highly fractured, with lots of pores and rubble...
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