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Mars moon got its grooves from rolling stones, study suggests
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A new study bolsters the idea that strange grooves crisscrossing the surface of the Martian moon Phobos were made by rolling boulders blasted free from an ancient asteroid impact.
The research, published in Planetary and Space Science, uses computer models to simulate the movement of debris from Stickney crater, a huge gash on one end of Phobos' oblong body. The models show that boulders rolling across the surface in the aftermath of the Stickney impact could have created the puzzling patterns of grooves seen on Phobos today.
"These grooves are a distinctive feature of Phobos, and how they formed has been debated by planetary scientists for 40 years," said Ken Ramsley, a planetary science researcher at Brown University who led the work. "We think this study is another step toward zeroing in on an explanation."
Phobos' grooves, which are visible across most of the moon's surface, were first glimpsed in the 1970s by NASA's Mariner and Viking missions. Over the years, there has been no shortage of explanations put forward for how they formed. Some scientists have posited that large impacts on Mars have showered the nearby moon with groove-carving debris. Others think that Mars' gravity is slowly tearing Phobos apart, and the grooves are signs of structural failure.
Still other researchers have made the case that there's a connection between the grooves and the Stickney impact. In the late 1970s, planetary scientists Lionel Wilson and Jim Head proposed the idea that ejecta — bouncing, sliding and rolling boulders — from Stickney may have carved the grooves. Head, a professor in Brown's department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, was also a coauthor of this new paper.
(Score: 4, Funny) by archfeld on Monday November 26 2018, @11:47PM (2 children)
Hey you, get off of my moon.
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 26 2018, @11:49PM (1 child)
Was the moon 2,000 Light Years from Home when a Midnight Rambler did the Harlem Shuffle on that Brown Sugar, kicking the ground Around and Around like Tumbling Dice? Was it Sister Morphine, that Sweet Black Angel with a Heart of Stone and High Heel Sneakers kicking it All Down the Line? Was it a Street Fighting Man with Sympathy for the Devil wanting to Paint it Black Undercover of the Night? A Monkey Man looking to Let It Loose or a Factory Girl crying "Gimme Shelter"? Or a Honky Tonk Woman with a bouquet of Dead Flowers Waiting on a Friend crying "Let Me Go" after being grabbed by Jumpin' Jack Flash? A Little Red Rooster administering Rough Justice When the Whip Comes Down on the Backstreet Girl? Was it Wild Horses, a Beast of Burden trying to get some Satisfaction or a Road Runner Walking the Dog on the Moonlight Mile?
Whatever happened, I guess as A Child of the Moon, It's Only Rock and Roll and It's All Over Now!
(Score: 2) by archfeld on Tuesday November 27 2018, @06:40PM
W00T! You win. That was an awesome display of classic music. I tip my cap to you Major Tom. Meet you on the darkside...
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge