2023-04-29 12:00:00
A few decades ago, the Voyager 1 and 2 probes, in their journey through the solar system, approached the vicinity of the planet Saturn and estimated that the planet had been losing its rings. Now new research from NASA confirms that the gas giant is losing its iconic rings, and that It is also doing it at the maximum rate that the Voyager 1 and 2 observations once stipulated..
According to the American agency, the rings are being dragged to the planet due to the gravity of the gas giant in the form of a dusty rain of ice particles under the influence of its magnetic field. James O’Donoghue of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and lead author of a study titled Observations of the chemical and thermal response of ‘ring rain’ on Saturn’s ionosphere published in the specialized magazine Icarus, He declares that the flow of water generated from the rings to the planet is enough to fill an Olympic size swimming pool in just half an hour.
“It is unlikely that the ring system is more than 100 million years old”
“At this rate, the entire ring system will disappear in 300 million years,” he says. “On the other hand, the Cassini probe has also offered us data on Saturn’s middle ring located at the equator, according to which the average life of these has been stipulated in only 100 million years. This is nothing compared to Saturn’s age of more than 4 billion years,” adds the researcher.
The most detailed photos ever taken of Saturn’s rings
Space rain outside Saturn
Since very early, scientists have wondered if Saturn’s rings formed along with the planet or if its formation was later. The new research favors the latter scenario, indicating that they are unlikely to be more than 100 million years old. “We’re lucky enough to be around to see Saturn’s ring system, which appears to be at the midpoint of its life. However, if the rings are temporary, maybe we missed seeing giant ring systems on Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune” adds O’Donoghue.
Various theories have been proposed for the origin of the rings. If they formed later in the planet’s life, it could be due to small icy moons having crossed Saturn’s orbit and colliding with the planet.
“Maybe we missed seeing giant ring systems on Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune”
Saturn’s rings are mostly chunks of water ice that vary in size: from microscopic dust grains to boulders several meters wide. Thus, the ring particles are trapped in a balancing act between Saturn’s gravity, which wants to pull them onto the planet, and its orbital speedwho wants to throw them into space.
Mysterious hexagon on Saturn
The tiniest particles can be electrically charged by ultraviolet light from the sun or by clouds of plasma emanating from the rings. When this happens, the particles can feel the pull of Saturn’s magnetic field. In some parts of the rings, once the particles are charged, the balance of forces between particles changes drastically, and it is the planet’s gravity that wins the battle by pushing the particles into the planet’s upper atmosphere.
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