Lord of the Rings
June 6th 2009 00:44
One of the images taken by NASA's Cassini space probe
Many planets in our solar systems have some rings attached to them.
Neptune and Uranus have a small ring system; Jupiter has a thin ring system as well.
But notably when it comes to rings nothing in our solar system beats Saturn.
The magnificent ring systems of Saturn are thought to be about three times more massive than once thought. Even the age of the rings may have been miscalculated.
Astronomers had believed that the rings of Saturn were formed sometime around 100million years ago when the dinosaurs walked the Earth.
It was presumed that because of the bright shiny even pristine condition of the rings that the age was estimated at around 100million years.
One of the first pictures obtained by Voyager 2 images like these of Saturn where the closest images of Saturn’s rings ever seen by humans at the time.
NASA’s Cassini space probe has helped re- asses the age of Saturn’s ring system.
Data from the Cassini probe shows the complexities and magnificence of Saturn’s rings. The age of the rings has been re -assessed to be more in the region of 4.5 billion years.
How did the rings of Saturn remain so bright and new for so long.?
The rings of Saturn have endured many countless collisions with asteroids and meteors resulting in many smaller particles forming, causing many smaller rings to form and spread around the massive planet.
Extensive simulations showed that after the many collisions of the ring particles that they eventually re-clumped rather than just dissipate, therefore maintaining the integrity of the rings spanning many millennia.
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The rings orbit the planet independently.
The rings are all traveling in the same direction
Although they orbit at different speeds.
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