Scientists have received compelling evidence that Saturn’s rings are extremely young compared to the age of the planet itself.
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The age of the rings does not exceed 400 million years, while the age of Saturn is about 4.5 billion years. This was reported by the press service of the University of Colorado at Boulder (USA).
Scientists came to this conclusion by examining the dust that is part of the rings.
Tiny grains of rocky material are almost constantly sweeping through the Earth’s solar system. In some cases, this flow can leave behind a thin layer of dust on planetary bodies, including on the ice that makes up the rings of Saturn, the article notes.
Thus, by studying how quickly a layer of dust accumulated in Saturn’s rings, scientists were able to determine their age – similar to how on Earth you can get an idea of the age of an object by running your finger over its surface.
Think of rings like a carpet in your home, scientists say. – If you have a clean carpet spread out, you just have to wait. Dust settles on the carpet. Likewise with rings.
Saturn has seven rings, which are made up of countless chunks of ice, most of which are no bigger than an Earth boulder. In general, this ice weighs about half as much as Saturn’s seventh largest natural satellite, Mimas, and extends almost 280,000 km from the planet’s surface.
most of the 20th century. scientists assumed that the rings probably formed at the same time as Saturn. But this version raised several questions, first of all – the rings of Saturn are brilliantly clean. Observations show that they are about 98% pure water ice by volume, with only a tiny amount of rocky matter.
It is almost impossible to get something so pure, the scientists emphasize.
As part of the study, scientists analyzed a total of 163 dust grains collected around Saturn by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft from 2004 to 2017. Calculations have shown that Saturn’s rings have probably collected dust for only a few hundred million years.
Thus, the study showed that the rings of the planet are new phenomena that occur over a relatively short period.
We know approximately how old the rings are, but this does not solve any of our problems, scientists say. “First of all, we still don’t know how these rings formed.
Yes, some scientists speculate that Saturn’s rings may have formed when the planet’s gravity ripped apart one of its moons.
In addition, studies show that Saturn’s rings may even be disappearing. NASA has previously estimated that the ice they are made of is slowly sinking onto the planet and may disappear completely after another 100 million years.
The planet Saturn surprised scientists with its internal structure.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.