Researchers suspect a mysterious third moon of Mars

The Red Planet holds many secrets that have not yet been fully explained to us humans. One of these mysteries revolves around the unusual shape of Mars. It is neither round like a ball nor flattened at the poles like the Earth.

Rather, Mars points on all 3 axes a relative strong deformation which appears as comparatively large dents, especially in the area of ​​the equator. How this strange shape came about has not yet been clarified.

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New theory put forward

Now the astronomer Michael Efroimsky has put forward a theory according to which a mysterious Mars moon is said to be responsible for the shape of the Red Planet. His calculations were published as a pre-print in the journal “Journal of Geophysical Research” – .

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Powerful magma tides

Efroimsky calls this unknown moon of Mars Nerio. He should be about one Third of the mass of our Earth’s moon have had. The resulting attraction would be sufficient to deform the shape of Mars.

It is possible that Nerio huge tides in the earlier ones Magma oceans caused. This means the molten rock could have been raised below the surface. Through the gradual Cooling of the liquid rock The distortions could then have arisen in the Martian crust.

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Where has the moon gone?

But where has Nerio gone? An obvious explanation for the whereabouts of Mars’ moon is one collision with another celestial body. The collision could result in Nerio becoming the two moons of Mars that still exist today Phobos and Deimos have arisen. But it could also come from orbit or even thrown out of the solar system have been.