More on Mars: Rings?

Following up on my earlier post about the demise of  Phobos, some scientists are now speculating that the "moon" may break apart in orbit rather than hit the surface, thereby creating rings around the planet.

USAToday provides this quote from one scientist:

If Phobos shatters all at once, “you’d expect the ring to unfurl … very quickly, over the course of days to weeks,” said study author and planetary scientist Benjamin Black, who will soon join City University of New York. Someone standing on the surface of Mars “might see a bright arc in the sky.”

Of course, these potential rings are quite distant in the future. Who knows whether Phobos will be around since humans settling Mars may find other uses for it.

Image Credit: Art by Tushar Mittal, graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley