Venus Likely Consumed Its Own Moon, New Simulation Indicates

A new simulation argues that a hypothetical moon around Venus would typically spiral inward and be torn apart by the planet, explaining why Venus has no moon. Survival would require a fast-spinning early Venus and a small moon, a combination likely not present in Venus's history. The study suggests Venus-like worlds elsewhere may generally lack large moons; direct evidence is hard to obtain, but future missions such as NASA’s DAVINCI could look for indirect signatures of a past moon-consumption event.