[DSRP Evidence](https://dsrpevidence.org/)

# Deimos's shape and geology explained by a subcatastrophic impact

## Details

**Authors** Raducan et al.

**Year** 2026

**Publisher** Nature Astronomy

**Discipline** Astronomy

[Read it at the publisher](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-026-02956-w) 
10.1038/s41550-026-02956-w

## In authors' words

### What they found (results)

Impact simulations show an oblique strike by a roughly 320-meter-diameter projectile can reproduce Deimos's single large south-polar depression, its global regolith layer, and its surface bright streaks, implying an extremely weak, highly porous interior unlike the heavily cratered Phobos.

## Commentary

### In short

The finding turns on a sharp contrast between Deimos's smooth, weak, porous surface and that of its sibling moon Phobos and the Moon's regolith, resolved by identifying a single causal impact event as the driver of the observed features.

**Patterns it shows** D, R

**Added** 2026-08-24

**How to cite this** Raducan et al. (2026). Deimos's shape and geology explained by a subcatastrophic impact. Nature Astronomy.