242: Chapter 242: Mars is a satellite of two major planets!!!

Xiaoyu was stunned on the spot, her beautiful eyes flickering wildly, "WTF?"

The millions of viewers in the livestream were also stunned on the spot.

"??"

"What do you mean?"

"Is it reasonable for Mars to be a planet?"

"Good heavens, is Brother Jiang going to remove Mars from the eight major planets?"

"Brother Jiang is crazy, absolutely crazy!"

"Wait, he said before that it's unreasonable for Pluto to be a planet, but reasonable as a satellite. Don't tell me..."

"Ahhh, stop talking!"

"My heart can't take it!"

"..."

Seeing this, Wang Shulin, the operator in the back, lit a cigarette with his left hand but didn't even take a puff, staring fixedly at his phone screen and saying, "Fuck!"

Several other operators nearby gasped.

"It's too terrifying!"

"Things that usually have no answer become terrifying once they reach Jiang Zhe's lips."

"Hahaha, have to say, this Jiang Zhe is truly a natural-born storyteller!"

"..."

On screen, Xiaoyu opened her mouth, wanting to speak but hesitating. Is it reasonable? She didn't know.

She only knew that the last time Brother Jiang asked if it was reasonable for Pluto to be a planet, the answer was: No, it is not.

Pluto should be a satellite.

Then this time...

Could it be that Mars is also a satellite?

"Brother Jiang, could it be that Mars is also a satellite??"

Jiang Zhe smiled slightly, not answering directly, but instead called up a map of Mars on his tablet, zooming in, zooming in, and zooming in again. "Look, every mountain range is clearly visible. Xiaoyu, don't you think—our Mars is a bit too small?"

Xiaoyu knitted her brows, "Small?"

"Yes, as a planet." Jiang Zhe's hand swiped across the screen, and Mars instantly turned into a 3D image. "The diameter of Mars is only half that of Earth, and the diameter of the Moon is half that of Mars; yet the Moon is a satellite of our Earth. Our Earth's diameter is 12,000 kilometers. By comparing the straightforward data, you should realize that such a small planet possesses the highest mountain in the Solar System!"

"Essentially, the Moon's gravity is weaker than Mars', because the Moon is pulled by our Earth with its 12,000-kilometer diameter, right?"

Xiaoyu nodded.

"And the Moon's highest point is a 10,000-meter plateau."

Saying this, he continued to open the map of Mars' North Pole, "Look at Olympus Mons on Mars; the height—21,229 meters."

"Theoretically, the weaker the gravity, the higher the mountains can be, right?"

"Why is it that the Moon has weaker gravity, yet its highest point is only a 10,000-meter plateau?"

Xiaoyu's pupils constricted, feeling somewhat astonished.

After all, scientifically, since smaller satellites have weaker gravity, the tidal pull from the primary planet should result in higher mountains and higher plateaus.

Yet, Mars doesn't seem to be like that!

Jiang Zhe nodded slightly, "Looking at our Earth, the highest point is Mount Everest at 8,848 meters; whereas Olympus Mons at the North Pole of Mars is more than twice the height of Mount Everest."

He placed a comparison image of the two mountains side by side on the screen—Mount Everest looked like a small mound, while Olympus Mons looked like a towering giant pillar.

"Not only that," Jiang Zhe continued to swipe the screen, "At the South Pole of Mars, the mountains at the edge of Hellas Planitia—the Hellespontus Montes—are also over 9,000 meters high, all taller than Mount Everest. Although it's not an isolated peak like Olympus Mons, it's an entire ring of uplifted terrain with a diameter exceeding 2,000 kilometers."

"And at the North Pole of Mars, although not as exaggerated as the South Pole, the uplift height of the northern plateau also reaches 6,000 to 7,000 meters."

He pointed to the diagram on the tablet, "Xiaoyu, look at this data table!"

Jiang Zhe pulled up a comparison table—

Mercury's highest peak: about 3,000 meters

Venus' highest peak: Maxwell Montes, 11,000 meters

Earth's highest peak: Mount Everest, 8,848 meters

Moon's highest point: about 10,000 meters—a plateau.

Pluto's highest peak: Tenzing Montes, 6,200 meters

Mars' Olympus Mons: 21,229 meters

Mars' South Pole edge mountains: over 9,000 meters.

Mars' North Pole plateau: 6,000-7,000 meters.

"Among all terrestrial planets and dwarf planets in the Solar System, only Mars possesses mountains in the 20,000-meter range."

"Only Mars has simultaneous uplifts at both the North and South Poles."

"Why?"

Xiaoyu opened her mouth, somewhat stunned, completely unable to answer.

At this moment, countless comments flooded the livestream.

"A 21,000-meter mountain, that's more than twice as high as Mount Everest!!!"

"Mars is so small, and its gravity is weak, but not as weak as the Moon's; yet the mountains are so high, this doesn't make sense!"

"Why doesn't it make sense?"

"To the person above, look at the Moon, its gravity is one-sixth of Earth's; the highest mountain is only 10,000 meters; while Mars' gravity is only about one-third of Earth's; essentially, Mars' highest mountain should only be one-third of Earth's—because tidal gravity directly determines how high a satellite's mountains can be."

"So, saying Mars' highest mountain should be around 6,000 meters is logical; 20,000 meters is illogical?"

"It's that simple principle, but for the deeper reason, we have to ask an astronomy professor."

"What does this mean? What is Brother Jiang trying to ask? So what if the mountains are high?"

"..."

National Astronomical Observatory.

Director Wang Weiguo narrowed his eyes, looking at the 21,229-meter figure on the screen, his brows furrowing even tighter.

"Olympus Mons!" He couldn't help but say, "We all know it's high; but we have never asked—why can it be so high?"

A researcher whispered, "Could it be that because Mars' gravity is small, only one-third of Earth's, the mountains can grow taller?"

Professor Zhang Qinian shook his head, "Not entirely correct. Small gravity does allow mountains to be taller, but why don't other planets—like Mercury or the Moon, which also have small gravity—have mountains of this height?"

Another researcher frowned and said, "Could it be that the thermal plume activity inside Mars lasted longer?"

This time it was Director Wang who shook his head in response, "A thermal plume can explain Olympus Mons, an isolated peak; but it cannot explain the simultaneous uplift at both the North and South Poles."

"And that ring of 9,000-meter mountains at the edge of Hellas Planitia was pulled up from the edge of the basin; the entire plateau of over 6,000 meters at the North Pole was also pulled up."

"This cannot be explained just by a longer duration of internal thermal plume activity on Mars."

Saying this, he scanned the room with a serious expression and asked a question: "What kind of force could pull up both poles of a planet simultaneously?"

The conference room was silent for a few seconds, then Professor Zhang Qinian suddenly spoke up: "It's tidal locking."

Director Wang's gaze became even more grave, "Yes, tidal locking; a celestial body is locked by the gravity of a larger celestial body, forever facing it with one side; and the locked celestial body will generate tidal bulges at the two points facing and facing away."

"Just like the long axis of the Moon pulled out by the Earth."

"But the bulges on Mars are at the North and South Poles, not at the equator. So... what held it wasn't one, but two."

"One in the direction of the North Pole, one in the direction of the South Pole."

At this point, Director Wang gasped, shocked by the answer in his own mind, "The planet to the north of Mars pulled out Olympus Mons and the North Pole plateau."

"In contrast, the one to the south of Mars pulled out that ring of mountains at the edge of Hellas Planitia."

"Later, the one to the south exploded; it exploded into the Asteroid Belt; which is why there is currently... no planet to the south of Mars!"

"And the one to the north... it cannot be Jupiter; it is currently unknown; but it must have existed, otherwise the uplift at Mars' North Pole cannot be explained; it may have already left the Solar System, or it may be hiding outside the Kuiper Belt, waiting to be discovered again."

As he finished speaking, the conference room was deadly silent.

Professor Zhang Qinian and the other researchers looked at each other, all seeing the disbelief on each other's faces.

At this moment, in Principal Fu's office.

Ren Xiaoyao said with a shocked expression: "It's tidal locking, this is a standard bipolar tidal-locked celestial body!"

He opened his mouth wide, pointing at the tablet with the Mars map in Jiang Zhe's hand on the big screen.

"Look, Mars' Olympus Mons; it's not at the equator, it's near the North Pole; and that ring of mountains at Hellas Planitia, it's also not at the equator, it's near the South Pole!"

"If Mars had been locked by one large planet, the bulges should be at the equator; now the bulges are at the North and South Poles—which means it was held by two!"

"One in the north, one in the south!"

"The one in the north used its gravity to pull up the entire region of Mars' North Pole, pulling out Olympus Mons and the North Pole plateau."

"And the one in the south pulled the edge of the South Pole basin into 9,000-meter mountains; later, that southern one exploded—it exploded into the Asteroid Belt!"

"The northern one..." Saying this, he took a deep breath, "The northern one is still there; it could be Jupiter, or it could be another planet we haven't found yet!"

As he finished speaking, Old Yu the Physicist said with a shocked expression: "Fuck!!!"

On the other side, in Qingfeng Temple.

Zheng Ming stared at the screen, shaking his head straight, his face full of disbelief, "This is impossible, how is this possible?"

Fang Xu remained silent, his eyes narrowed, simply searching his mind frantically for any evidence to refute it.

After a long while, he couldn't find any.

Tidal locking is basic physics, and Mars' bipolar uplift implies dual gravity sources.

The location, height, and scale of Olympus Mons all point to the same conclusion—Mars was once the satellite of two larger planets.

"Brother Fang?" Zheng Ming looked at Fang Xu with difficulty, "Say something, this is fake, right?"

Fang Xu looked at him, wanting to speak but hesitating, and after a long time, he shook his head, "The core of tidal locking is that the direction of Mars' uplift is perfectly collinear with the direction of the gravity source."

"The uplift at Mars' North Pole means that in that direction, a huge gravity source once existed, and perhaps still exists."

"That direction is not the giant planet Jupiter. Because Jupiter is to the southeast of Mars, not on the extension line of Mars' North Pole."

"So, if the uplift at Mars' North Pole is the result of tidal locking, then the one holding Mars to the north—"

"Can only be another planet we haven't discovered yet."

"Perhaps even the one he mentioned in his past livestreams..."

"[The Ninth Planet X]!"

Having reached this point in the explanation, Fang Xu still shook his head, "I don't know anymore; but I only know—this inference is more reasonable than any other explanation."

As he finished speaking, Celestial Master Zhang and Wang Chongyang looked at each other, both with curious expressions, feeling the charm of astronomy!

And the expression on Zheng Ming's face was stunned on the spot.

In this way, everything Jiang Zhe said tonight was verified by him—

Mars, in a very distant age, might really have been the... satellite of that exploded planet, based on standard dual tidal locking.

Inside the big screen.

Xiaoyu looked at the 21,000-meter giant mountain on the tablet, wanting to speak but hesitating.

Countless fragments flashed through her mind—the vacancy calculated by Formula A; the craters from the directed bombing in Mars' southern hemisphere.

The Xenon-129 in Mars' atmosphere, which is identical to nuclear explosion fingerprints!

And now this—Mars' Olympus Mons, the highest in the Solar System, yet the gravity is only one-third of Earth's.

The uplifted slopes pulled up at Mars' North and South Poles.

In this instant, her beautiful eyes shone, and she understood everything.

"Brother Jiang, Mars is, is..."

Jiang Zhe looked at her, nodded slightly, and nodded with satisfaction, "It is exactly the satellite of that exploded planet."

Xiaoyu took a deep breath, threw the messy thoughts out of her mind, and asked with a serious expression: "So, that planet in the Asteroid Belt next to Mars was once Mars' parent planet?"

Jiang Zhe didn't answer, just nodded lightly.