New analysis of NASA images, specifically a series depicting two large elliptical craters in the Martian landscape, may indicate that a third moon had orbited Mars in the distant past, though it eventually succumbed to the gravitational pull exerted by the red planet.

As reported in a recent article by Universe Today, “observations of the Martian surface, just north of Olympus Mons, show two oval-shaped craters (pictured top). Usually impact craters are approximately circular, so the elongated craters indicate the impactor(s) entered the atmosphere at a very shallow angle.”