Saturn’s rings are most likely made out of asteroids, comets and possibly planet or moon remains. These space rocks were floating in space before they got caught in the gravitational pull. Scientists disagree about the formation of the rings but one thing that they can agree on is that they were formed over 4 billion years ago! It’s interesting because people don’t exactly know if after Saturn formed the rings were built right away or if it took a long time for the rings to form. The people who believe that the rings are younger theorize that if the dinosaurs had space tech they could’ve seen a ringless Saturn.
What’s crazy is as big as Saturn is the little rocks and objects in the ring are very small. When I say very small I mean the size of a molecule. Some rocky parts are the size of cars and buildings but the majority are little molecules that give off light. The ring stretches around Saturn for 170,000 miles but is only 20 to 50 feet thick! That’s about the size of your living room.
Why don’t other planets have rings like Saturn?
The assumption that Saturn is the only planet with rings is incorrect because Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus all have rings that aren’t as visible. One theory is that a while ago a moon was gobbled up by saturn and the rocks got caught in the orbit hence why it has more visible rings then the other gas giants.
Who discovered Saturn’s rings?
In 1610 none other than Galileo discovered that Saturn had rings but did not know for sure and didn’t have the tech to learn more about them. It wasn’t until 2004 when the Cassini spacecraft captured very intriguing images of saturn and the rings surrounding it.
Related Stories:
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/saturn-rings/en/
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/saturn-rings-formation-theories
https://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/ask/107-How-did-Saturn-get-its-rings-
Take Action:
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/form_1302_-_rev_a.doc
