If Arkani-Hamed's theory is right, that would mean some of the 20 or so giant impact basins on Mars were formed when a few huge asteroids broke into pieces before landing in a fiery salvo. Many of the basins are scattered in arc-shaped patterns across the planet, each cluster suggesting that several rocks all traveled in the same orbital path, and may have once been one solid mass. "I don't think it's a crazy idea," Francis Nimmo of the University of California Santa Cruz, "but the problem you run into is one of duration." Phobos, one of Mars' two present-day moons, is also destined for impact. Arkani-Hamed's theory requires the giant asteroids of antiquity to power the dynamo for 500 million years before finally crashing home. Phobos only has about 50 million years before it hits. Nimmo also noted that not all of the basins in each arc match up in age, making it tough to argue that the cluster came from the same original giant rock. Related Links: |
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