Millions of years from now, this could be Mars. Well, you know, minus all of the gas that engulfs this planet and it's size, of course. Reported by The Verge, astronomers have determined that Mars' gravitational pull is ripping apart one of it's two moons, Phobos. In close to 20 million years, the celestial body will be no more than a ring of debris that will circle the Red Planet, not unlike the rings of Saturn. So how did the astronomers come to this conclusion?
For a while now, research has been done to examine the make-up of the moon Phobos, to help them determine what was creating "shallow grooves" on it's exterior. Originally thought to be leftover remnants from collisions with the tiny moon, they now believe that the grooves are being formed by Mars' gravitational pull. The article I read said, basically, "Think of them as stretch marks." Lovely metaphor, I know, but it definitely gets the point across.
So using their computer models, they've determined that the future inhabitants of Earth will see a Mars that's completely different than the one we witness today. By that time there may even be colonies on Mars, and when they look up in their night sky they'll be able to see the rings of Mars with their very own naked eyes.
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