Apparent retrograde motion notable on Mars which has two natural satellites, Phobos and Deimos. Both moons orbit Mars in an eastward (prograde) direction, however Deimos has an orbital period of 1.23 Martian sidereal days, making it supersynchronous, whereas Phobos has an orbital period of 0.31 Martian sidereal days making it subsynchronous. Consequently, although both moons are travelling in an eastward (prograde) direction, they appear to be travelling in opposite directions when viewed from the surface of Mars due to their orbital periods in relation to the rotational period of the planet. All other planetary bodies in the Solar System also appear to periodically
Formation and evolution of the Solar System astronomy, physics, geology, and planetary science. Since the dawn of the space age in the 1950s and the discovery of extrasolar planets in the 1990s, the model has been both challenged and refined to account for new observations. The Solar System has evolved considerably since its initial formation. Many moons have formed from circling discs of gas and dust around their parent planets, while other moons are thought to have formed independently and later been captured by their planets. Still others, such as Earth's Moon, may be the result of giant collisions. Collisions between bodies have occurred continually up to