US astrophysicists have put forward a surprising hypothesis to explain the absence of a moon around Venus. According to this theory, the planet may have "swallowed" its own moon in a phenomenon described as "celestial cannibalism."
The American team proposes that Venus may have captured a moon that ended up colliding with the planet, or that the moon was slowly dragged toward Venus's surface over millions of years due to the gravitational interaction between the two bodies.
The mystery this theory aims to solve relates to the fact that Venus has no moon, despite being a planet very similar to Earth in terms of size and composition. This absence has intrigued scientists for decades.
The "celestial cannibalism" hypothesis thus emerges as a likely explanation for this phenomenon, suggesting that Venus may have once had a moon that ended up being absorbed by the planet itself.
