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Possible theory on why Mercury and Venus have no moon, Clues from Earth and Mars moon orbits |
 Oct 31 2009, 10:42 PM
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 Member  Group: Members Posts: 246 Joined: 13-October 09 From: Olympus Mons Member No.: 4972  |
I think i know why Mercury and Venus have nothing orbiting them.
You know how our moon and Deimos are slowly getting farther from Earth and Mars. And Phobos is getting closer to Mars and will impact it eventually. Phobos orbits in less than a Martian day. Deimos and our moon orbit slower than there parents rotation. Maybe Mercury and Venus consumed there moons because the slow rotation of those planets allowed tidal forces with any moon that orbited them to spiral inward and eventually impact them. -------------------- "Thats no moon... IT'S A TRAP!"
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Nov 1 2009, 10:19 AM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 117 Joined: 7-December 06 From: Sheffield UK Member No.: 1462 |
QUOTE (Antdoghalo @ Oct 31 2009, 11:42 PM)  I think i know why Mercury and Venus have nothing orbiting them. You know how our moon and Deimos are slowly getting farther from Earth and Mars. And Phobos is getting closer to Mars and will impact it eventually. Phobos orbits in less than a Martian day. Deimos and our moon orbit slower than there parents rotation. Maybe Mercury and Venus consumed there moons because the slow rotation of those planets allowed tidal forces with any moon that orbited them to spiral inward and eventually impact them. Here's a couple of links related to this topic: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/home/4353026.html http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/1992/92GL01067.shtml -------------------- It's a funny old world - A man's lucky if he gets out of it alive. - W.C. Fields.
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Antdoghalo Possible theory on why Mercury and Venus have no moon Oct 31 2009, 10:42 PM
scalbers Sounds like a pretty good theory. I'm curious ... Oct 31 2009, 10:57 PM Greg Hullender That effect is very weak for slowly-rotating plane... Nov 1 2009, 12:14 AM Hungry4info I'm pretty sure Earth's moon is within the... Nov 1 2009, 08:06 AM
Greg Hullender QUOTE (Hungry4info @ Nov 1 2009, 12:06 AM... Nov 1 2009, 07:52 PM scalbers Yes, I recall even our moon spiraled away from abo... Nov 1 2009, 03:14 PM Phil Stooke Hypothesis is the word to use for this, not theory... Nov 1 2009, 05:56 PM scalbers Thanks - though I think I understand the basic mec... Nov 1 2009, 06:24 PM Phil Stooke I would think that the Tharsis bulge is as effecti... Nov 2 2009, 03:12 PM Greg Hullender QUOTE (Phil Stooke @ Nov 2 2009, 07:12 AM... Nov 2 2009, 09:03 PM ngunn Maybe there was originally a moon in a synchronous... Nov 2 2009, 10:17 PM Greg Hullender QUOTE (ngunn @ Nov 2 2009, 02:17 PM) Mayb... Nov 3 2009, 04:27 PM ngunn QUOTE (Greg Hullender @ Nov 3 2009, 04:27... Nov 3 2009, 04:56 PM ngunn Following the Joe Burns trail even further back I ... Nov 3 2009, 09:02 PM Greg Hullender Those are all really old though, and predate decen... Nov 3 2009, 09:55 PM |
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