SPACE
Mars once had rings and a bigger moon
Words by RafiLetzter
Mars may have once had a giant ring that eventually got smooshed to form one of its oddly shaped moons, new research suggests. Mars has two small, lumpy moons: Phobos and Deimos. Phobos orbits closer to the Red Planet and follows the line of Mars’ equator. Deimos orbits farther away along an orbit that’s tilted by two degrees off the plane of the Martian equator. The wonky orbit adds evidence to the idea that Phobos may once have been a giant ring that eventually coalesced into its present shape.