Venus may have swallowed its own moon

Venus may have once had a moon, but new research suggests the planet’s incredibly slow rotation could have doomed it. Computer simulations showed that instead of gradually drifting away like Earth’s moon, a Venusian moon would likely spiral inward until it crashed into the planet, with larger moons falling even faster. Venus may have swallowed its own moon.

Venus may have swallowed its own moon Science News from research organizations Venus may have swallowed its own moon Venus may be moonless today because its slow rotation caused a former moon to spiral inward and crash into the planet. New research from UC Riverside suggests a striking possibility: Venus may once have had a moon, only to eventually pull it back into the planet. Previous explanations generally focused on two possibilities.

One suggested that Venus once had a moon that was later destroyed by a massive impact. Another proposed that Venus simply never experienced the kind of collision that could have created a moon in the first place. A new study published in The Astrophysical Journal offers a different explanation.

According to the research, Venus may not have needed a dramatic external event to lose a moon.