Astronomers have known since the 1980s that Saturn’s iconic rings have been diminishing rapidly since they appeared over 400 million years ago. Scientists estimate that at their current rate of decline, one swimming pool worth of water could fall onto Saturn every 30 seconds – rendering its iconic rings nearly extinct within 300 million years!
“Ring rain” occurs when meteoroids strike the rings’ ice particles, causing them to vaporize, sending charged water molecules tumbling to earth as raindrops.
The Rings Are Made Of Ice
At the height of space exploration, astronomers realized that Saturn’s rings were composed mostly of frozen water ice; its composition being an excellent conductor of electricity. But we still don’t understand how they formed. Astronomers speculate they might have come about due to comets or asteroids colliding with one or more moons of Saturn and shattering them into fragments which then collided into each other to produce rings around Saturn.
Astronomers have noticed something peculiar since Voyager 1 and 2 space probes first toured Saturn back in the 1980s: its rings appear to be diminishing year by year. Scientists don’t quite understand why, but what they do know is that these iconic rings appear thinner each year.
Each year, micrometeorites and solar radiation disturb particles of ring material to electrify them and send them spiralling towards Saturn where gravity draws them in, eventually dissipating into its upper atmosphere and eventually dissolving into nothingness.
Ring Rain is what keeps Saturn’s rings thin, although scientists don’t fully understand why. One theory suggests that material accumulates where two Saturn moons’ gravitational influence has created a resonance, making it harder for their orbits to stay on course, tilting and stretching until finally colliding head on and producing the effect we know as “Ring Rain.”
Another potential scenario involves the possibility that a massive collision could destabilize Jupiter’s rings by shifting their orbits, and allowing them to drift closer towards Jupiter’s gravitational well, thus dismantling and scattering their icy debris towards it. This would effectively bring about their destruction.
If this occurs, the offending particles could become part of an asteroid belt — an expansive band composed of asteroids and dwarf planets but lacking enough mass to form a planet – that does not coalesce into new rings as there simply isn’t enough room in it for expansion.
The Rings Are Made Of Rock
Saturn’s iconic rings may remain, but on an overall cosmic scale, they’re quickly receding. That’s because as its orbit wobbles slightly due to rotation on its axis, every 13-16 years it reaches a point in its orbit wherein its rings appear perfectly edge-on from our perspective – known as an equinox event and the cause for many months when they go unseen for periods of several months each year or so.
As Saturn’s rings move into their current positions, they’re buffeted by gravitational forces from its moons and can be dislodged or drawn into Saturn’s upper atmosphere where their particles will eventually be burned off by solar radiation. Astronomers had been monitoring this process with Voyager; with Cassini they could measure exactly how much material was entering Saturn’s atmosphere at what rate.
And it has led them to make a new estimate of how long the rings will remain: around 300 million years, according to some calculations from Voyager missions. While that timescale is less than that suggested by previous estimates, it still allows plenty of opportunity for us to witness these fascinating phenomena first-hand.
One factor contributing to astronomers’ revised estimate is their realization that the rings are younger than originally estimated. Previous evidence was hidden by layers of dust and ice covering them; but new research published in Science Advances and Icarus suggests they formed only 100 million years ago!
On this recent equinox, Cassini used an infrared spectrometer to study temperatures within Saturn’s rings. Temperature data helps scientists understand their composition, size and shape while sunlight shining on their edges cooled them to astoundingly low temperatures – cold enough that some particles even formed water droplets!
Water droplets landing on an icy surface interact chemically with particles to produce hydrogen and oxygen that are then carried off by Saturn’s magnetic fields into its upper atmosphere, effectively disintegrating its rings over time until they finally disappear altogether. This process will continue until all are gone forever.
The Rings Are Made Of Water
Astronomers have known since the 1980s that Saturn’s rings are steadily dissipating into its upper atmosphere, known as “ring rain.” Every second enough particles from these rings fall towards Earth to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool every half-hour – an unprecedented phenomenon known as “ring rain”.
Reason being, there’s an unusual interaction between sunlight and Saturn’s rings: when sunlight strikes an icy particle it causes it to become charged up, which in turn draws into the magnetic field and pulls it towards Saturn causing a downward draft that takes particles towards its upper atmosphere.
NASA’s Voyager probes first noticed this phenomenon in the 1980s, yet scientists only became aware of what was actually going on in 2013. Ring rain combined with sunlight erosion caused by sunlight was draining material faster than anticipated from Saturn’s system; scientists estimate its life span is now much shorter – perhaps 100 million years instead of 1 billion!
Alongside ring rain, another factor hastening the process is Saturn’s rotating on its axis, as this means its rings will appear differently each day depending on where they are in their orbital path around its gas giant. By 2025 they may even completely fade from view due to this motion bringing them closer towards Earth than ever.
Not surprisingly, this would mean less sunlight is being reflected back onto Saturn from its rings and could potentially raise its temperature by 30C. Not surprisingly, similar phenomena has taken place on its sister planets Uranus and Neptune as well; both now have thinner rings after gradually losing thicker ones over time.
Saturn’s rings may be stunning to gaze upon, yet we should count ourselves lucky that humanity evolved during a time when these majestic bands still existed – otherwise our solar system might look very different today and perhaps fewer centuries will pass before we get another opportunity to admire them!
The Rings Are Made Of Metal
Astronomers have long been mesmerized by Saturn’s rings. We finally caught our first glimpses up close in the 1980s when NASA’s Voyager spacecraft passed by on its tour of outer planets. Scientists then speculated that its stunning rings must have formed alongside Saturn during its peak period some 4.6 billion years ago when solar system debris still covered it all; picking off pieces to wrap around and around would not have been hard at all before gravity flattened them into their famous band-shapes.
Since then, astronomers have conducted more in-depth studies of Saturn’s rings. Since then, they’ve discovered they may only be several hundred million years old at most, as previously thought; and that their age may only be several hundred million years. Furthermore, the rings are dissolving at an astonishing rate; some estimates put this figure as being around 10,000 kg of ice and rock disappearing per second through “ring rain.” Particles electrically charged by ultraviolet radiation from the Sun or plasma clouds produced from micrometeoroid bombardment then drawn back into Saturn’s atmosphere where water molecules react chemically with iron-rich dust to produce glowing rings visible from Earth.
Astronomers have also been monitoring Saturn’s rings as they orbit. Astronomers know that these rings wobble slightly as they orbit. Every 13.7 to 15.7 years, Saturn’s rotation axis tilts it slightly closer or further from us and we no longer witness its glory on such regular basis as before. 2032 should mark its proper alignment for our viewing pleasure; even then however we won’t witness all its rings’ glory at once.
So what would happen if the rings suddenly dissappeared? They might escape Jupiter’s gravitational pull and end up being drawn into an asteroid belt consisting of remnants from Ceres as well as Vesta, Pallas and Hygiea asteroids – meaning their absence would likely not make much of a difference but also wouldn’t last for too long either way.