7. What are the two moons of Mars that may have been once asteroids that were just caught by the planet's
gravity?

A collision, common in the early solar system, could have blown chunks of the red planet into space, and gravity may have pulled them together into the moons. Similarly, an early moon of Mars could have been impacted by a large object, leaving Phobos and Deimos as the only remaining bits.

Mars's moons

Phobos

Phobos is the innermost and larger of the two natural satellites of Mars, the other being Deimos. Both moons were discovered in 1877 by American astronomer Asaph Hall. Phobos is a small, irregularly shaped object with a mean radius of 11 km and is seven times more massive than the outer moon, Deimos.

Deimos

Deimos or is the smaller and outermost of the two natural satellites of Mars, the other being Phobos. Deimos has a mean radius of 6.2 km and takes 30.3 hours to orbit Mars. Deimos is 23,460 km from Mars, much further than Mars's other moon, Phobos.

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Answer:

A collision, common in the early solar system, could have blown chunks of the red planet into space, and gravity may have pulled them together into the moons. Similarly, an early moon of Mars could have been impacted by a large object, leaving Phobos and Deimos as the only remaining bits.

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