NASA/JPL-Caltech
Lost moon may even be at the source of the Raguebi Martian ball form.
Our neighbor, Mars, is not perfectly spherical. It has, in fact, the shape of a rugby ball, with three axes of different sizes.
The irregular shape of the red planet manifests itself mainly in two regions: Tharsis Rise, with a great elevation, and Syrtis Major on the opposite side. Recently, the astronomer Michael Efroimskyfrom the US Naval Observatory, proposed that the deformation may have been caused by an old and missing moon, called Nerve – A name inspired by a Roman goddess of war, “Mars’s partner in old worship practices, which would later be superseded by deities adapted from other religions,” writes Efroimsky.
Like the moon influences the tides on the earth, Nerio will have exercised tidal forces that deformed the Martian crust, proposes the study at ARXIV.
As the planet cooled, this distorted form was “frozen” in its structure.
In addition, Nerio’s forces would have weakened certain zones of the planet, making them more susceptible to geological phenomena such as volcanic eruptions and tectonic movements.
“An initial triaxiality, ‘seed’, was created by a massive moon that orbits a young and still plastic mart in a synchronous orbit (…) showing the same face to the moon, Mars took a close but not identical form, a triaxial ellipsoid, with its largest axis aligned with the moon,” reads in the article.
“After the moon produced Mars’s triaxiality and asymmetry, the tidal-high provinces became, more than others, prone to convection elevations and tectonic and volcanic activity.”
It is believed that a moon with less than a third of the terrestrial moon mass, in synchronous orbit, would be sufficient to create this form. However, Nerio disappeared “Perhaps destroyed or expelled from another heavenly body – today only the little phones remaining and we Deimo, as it remembers.”
