Venus may have swallowed its former moon
New astrophysical research suggests that Venus may have pulled its potential former moon into itself due to its own slow rotation, without the need for external impact.
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A new explanation has emerged for Venus, one of the two planets in the Solar System alongside Mercury that lacks a natural satellite. According to an astrophysics study conducted by researchers at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) in the US, Venus may have destroyed a moon it is assumed to have possessed in the past due to its own physical characteristics, rather than a massive external cosmic collision.
In the study, scientists used computer simulations to examine why Venus, which is similar to Earth in mass and size, remains moonless. The results indicated that a potential moon might have spiraled toward the planet over time instead of remaining in a stable orbit.
At the center of this scenario is the extremely slow rotation of Venus. Earth completes its rotation on its axis in approximately 24 hours, and the energy transferred to the Moon during this process contributes to the Moon moving away by about 4 centimeters per year. Venus, however, completes one rotation on its axis in 243 Earth days. According to the researchers, this slow rotation may have caused a hypothetical moon to be pulled toward the planet instead of moving outward.
The study's lead author, Dr. Stephen Kane, stated that in most of the simulations, the moon eventually collided with the surface of Venus. The researchers estimate that this process could occur in a shorter time, especially for larger-mass moons.
According to the scientists, such a collision could have profoundly affected the geological structure and atmosphere of Venus. The massive energy released by a potential collision may have played a role in the loss of oceans that the planet might have possessed in the past and in the formation of its current arid structure.
However, the researchers point out that it is difficult to directly prove this possibility. It is believed that the surface of Venus was largely renewed approximately 1 billion years ago. Therefore, it is stated that the traces of a potential ancient collision could be sought not on the surface, but through seismic measurements that could be conducted in the deep layers of the planet.