So I thought that maybe if I could determine how far Phobos has moved from its current-day orbit, I could also figure out how much time has passed (therefore determining how far into the future Destiny takes place). The best I could do for the angular diameter is approx 5 degrees. If we use the formula:
Apparent Angle in degrees/57.3 degrees = True diameter in kilometres/Distance in kilometres
We get that the distance at which Phobos is orbiting Mars is 252,12 km. The current orbit of Phobos in real life is 9380 km from Mars.
*9380 km - 252,12 km = 9128 km = S
We also know that Phobos is moving towards Mars at V=1,8 cm/year (which is 5,708e-9 m/s).
So through the S=Vt formula we can determine how much time has passed. We get that
t=16e15 seconds, and now... That equals... 507356671 years?
Ok so after doing some research and with the help of those lovely peeps over at reddit, I realized that the Cabal tempered with the orbit of Phobos. Rendering my calculations "irrelevant" at best... Well at least now we know the distance at which Phobos orbits Mars, heh... Extremely useful information, I know...
! EDIT ! : I am an idiot. I accidentally wrote [i]1.6e15[/i] as [i]16e15[/i] ! This makes a BIG difference. 507356671 years become 50735667. You know what else is going to happen in 50 Million years? That's right Phobos will crash into Mars. Now I'm not saying that Destiny is set 50 million years into the future. But this does mean that Bungie took all of this into account when choosing how big Phobos will appear in Mars' sky (I derived the 5 degrees I mentioned at the beginning from in-game observations of Phobos). I honestly think this is pretty cool.
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Phobos was pulled out of its natural orbit by Psion Flayers, events of Destiny are only several hundred years in the future