Illustration of Saturn and its rings. All of the outer gas giant planets– Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus– have rings around them.
Worlds are surrounded by rings since they are made up of particles that orbit the planet. These particles can be comprised of a range of materials, such as rock, dust, and ice. The rings are formed when things in the worlds surrounding area, such as moons, comets, or asteroids, break up and their debris is pulled into the planets gravitational field. The particles then start to orbit the planet and form a ring. The shapes and size of the rings can vary depending upon the size and structure of the particles, as well as the worlds gravitational pull. Some planets, such as Saturn, are known for their distinctive and large ring systems, while others, such as Mars, have much smaller sized and less visible rings.
Saturn was believed to be the only planet in our planetary system with rings for a very long time. The rings around Saturn were discovered nearly 400 years back by the popular astronomer, Galileo Galilei. He used a really easy telescope that he built himself from lenses and pointed it at the worlds in the night sky. One of the very first things he took a look at was Saturn. Initially, he believed that Saturn had 2 large moons on either side of the planet since his telescope wasnt extremely good and only produced very blurred images.
Ever since, astronomers have utilized bigger and better telescopes to find rings around all of the external gas giant planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus. These planets, unlike others in our system, consist mostly of gas.
By Dr. Rudi Kuhn, South African Astronomical Observatory
December 14, 2022
Planets are surrounded by rings since they are made up of particles that orbit the world. Some worlds, such as Saturn, are understood for their large and distinct ring systems, while others, such as Mars, have much smaller and less noticeable rings.
According to the second theory, which is my personal favorite, the rings were formed when two of the moons of the world, which had formed at the exact same time as the planet, in some way got disturbed in their orbits and ultimately clashed with each other. The biggest distinction in between the rings of Saturn and the other gas giant planets is that the particles that make up the rings of Saturn are extremely great at showing the light from the sun back towards the Earth. The incredibly large number of particles caught in the rings of Saturn also make the rings much larger and wider; thats another reason theyre simpler to see than the rings of the other gas giant worlds.
Although were not precisely sure how the rings work or how they formed, there are a few theories.
Hubbles 2021 look at Saturn reveals fast and extreme color changes in the bands of the worlds northern hemisphere. Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Simon (NASA-GSFC), and M. H. Wong (UC Berkeley); Image Processing: A. Pagan (STScI).
Different theories.
The very first theory states that the rings formed at the same time as the world. Some particles of gas and dust that the worlds are made from were too far away from the core of the planet and might not be smushed together by gravity. They remained behind to form the ring system.
According to the second theory, which is my individual favorite, the rings were formed when two of the moons of the planet, which had formed at the exact same time as the planet, in some way got disrupted in their orbits and eventually hit each other. The stuff that was left behind in this huge crash could not come together once again to form a new moon. Instead, it spread out into the ring systems we see today.
Because we do not have definitive answers yet, we keep checking out and testing different theories.
Composite Uranus image with X-ray data from Chandra taken in 2002 and optical information from the Keck telescope in Hawaii. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXO/University College London/W. Dunn et al; Optical: W.M. Keck Observatory.
What we do understand is that the rings around the different planets are all slightly various from one another, however they all share some characteristics too.
First, they are all much wider than they are thick. The rings of Saturn, for instance, are about 175,000 miles (282,000 kilometers) wide (extending away from the world) but only 650 feet (200 meters) thick. Thats like having a regular pancake on your plate for breakfast that is 9 miles (14 km) broad.
The other thing that all rings systems share is that they are all made of little particles of ice and rock. All the rings around the planets likewise contain gaps that are in some cases many miles wide and at first, nobody might figure out why.
Webbs Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) image of Neptune, handled July 12, 2022, brings the planets rings into complete focus for the very first time in more than 3 years. Credit: Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI).
The most significant difference between the rings of Saturn and the other gas giant worlds is that the particles that make up the rings of Saturn are great at showing the light from the sun back towards the Earth. That indicates they appear to be extremely brilliant, which is why we can see the rings from Earth utilizing a normal telescope. The very a great deal of particles caught in the rings of Saturn also make the rings much larger and broader; thats another reason theyre simpler to see than the rings of the other gas giant worlds.
The particles that comprise the rings of Uranus and Neptune contain aspects that were darkened by the sun. These dark particles look extremely comparable to pieces of coal or charcoal. This makes them much more tough to see since they do not show as much of the suns light back to us.
New discoveries.
This is an interesting time for astronomy. Increasingly more satellites and space probes are being launched from all over the world, which allows us to examine the external worlds of our solar system. That implies astronomers will have the chance to study these rings– and one day, hopefully, well be able to answer all of your questions and more.
Written by Dr. Rudi Kuhn, SALT Astronomer, South African Astronomical Observatory.
This post was very first published in The Conversation.