|
I can't seem to find the link now Al but what you have posted complements something I read a few weeks ago. By rights the inner planets would not form moons by the accretion theory. Due to the heating up of the Solar nebula lighter elements are forced to the outer parts of the solar system and the remaining rocky debris should all form single planets without moons eventually. And this is what would have happened if earth had not been hit by a very large planetesimal early on and budded off the moon. As for Mars Phobos and Deimos are captured asteroids ejected from the Asteroid belt by Jupiter.
I'll have a dig and see if I can find the link again. It was a very interesting read.
|