Venus may have swallowed its own moon
Reuters reports on a new theory to explain why Venus lacks a moon despite its similarities to Earth in size, mass and structure.
TLDR
Reuters reports that a new astrophysics study suggests Venus may have swallowed a moon it once had.
A post describing a paper by UC Riverside’s Stephen Kane outlines how that could happen: tidal interactions could slow Venus’s spin and reverse a hypothetical moon’s outward migration. The moon would then spiral inward and break into a debris ring, with most of the debris falling onto Venus.
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Venus may have swallowed its own moon
Reuters reports on a new theory to explain why Venus lacks a moon despite its similarities to Earth in size, mass and structure.