Some moons are just like that. Don’t body shame them
Comment on mogged
JennaR8r@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
I thought moons & planets always appear generally round from a distance. This lumpy irregularly-shaped Phobos looks like an asteroid.
sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 2 months ago
Both Mars’ moons (Phobos and Deimos) are asteroids. They’re really small.
“Hydrostatic equilibrium” is the term (I think) for when a body is massive enough for it’s gravity to pull it into a spheroid. E.g. Ceres is about 950km in diameter and is ‘round’.
zaphod@sopuli.xyz 2 months ago
And another W for earth, get fucked mars. Is he even trying?
JennaR8r@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
Hmm today I learned that asteroids can also be moons! Was it just floating around freely like any other asteroid until it got caught into the orbit of Mars, then got stuck there forever?
deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 2 months ago
Probably. It does happen.
Fun fact. Triton, Neptune’s largest moon, orbits the wrong way which means it was gravitationally captured by Neptune at some point.