The Jewell of the solar system, Saturn. A gas giant surrounded by a magnificent icy
skirt of glistening dust and rock. Silently occupying a distant, cold region,
Saturn is arguably the second most recognisable planet in the solar system due to its spectacular,
complex rings. Although it has been discovered that all four of the gas giants have rings,
none can be observed and appreciated quite like Saturns.
Like its neighbouring planet, Saturn is an enormous mass of mostly hydrogen and helium.
It is accompanied by many mysterious moons, some of which may have the right conditions
to support life and it has been visited by only a hand full of spacecraft, the most dedicated
being NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Cassini orbited Saturn 294 times from 2004
to 2017, revealing in great detail the true wonders of this colossal world and its complicated
ring system. The rings are made up of billions upon billions
of pieces of broken-up ice and rock, that range from tiny dust particles to enormous
chunks, some bigger than the iceberg that sank the Titanic.
Looking up from the cloud tops, the rings would appear mostly white and each section
of this dazzling natural wonder orbits at a different speed around the planet.
Extending out to around 175,000 miles or 282,000 kilometres from Saturn, this encircling field
of glistening debris is one of the solar systems greatest features. But how long will this
marvel of nature...last? Scientists have long wondered if Saturn formed
with its iconic rings or if the planet acquired them later in life. According to close up
data collected by Cassini, the rings are relatively young, likely only forming between 10 million
and 100 million years ago. This means that during the time of the dinosaurs, Saturn transformed
into the planet that we see today. It is thought that the rings may have formed
when small, ancient icy moons collided or were torn apart by Saturn's gravity. Shattering
them into trillions of pieces during a dramatic event and turning Saturn into one of the solar
systems most unique looking planets. Unfortunately, however, this colossal beauty
is rapidly changing, as according to data collected by the Voyager probes decades ago
and the more recent Cassini spacecraft, the particles that make up this enormous ring
system, are being consumed by Saturn itself. The process which has been dubbed "ring rain"
by scientists, is said to be the result of ultraviolet radiation from the sun and tiny
meteoroids bombarding the ring particles and electrically charging the water molecules
that they are mostly made up from. This then causes the particles to be influenced
by Saturn's powerful magnetic field, which curves inward towards the planet. Saturn's
gravity then forces the charged material to be pulled along its magnetic field lines,
ultimately causing the particles to burn up as it enters Saturn's upper atmosphere.
Along with this process, Cassini also detected even more ring material falling into the gas
planets equator. Allowing scientists to calculate that around 10 thousand kilograms, which is
around 22 thousand pounds of ring rain per second is being disintegrated, which is enough
to fill up an Olympic sized swimming pool every half an hour.
This means that Saturn's glistening crystal halo which makes the planet so iconic here
on Earth has under 100 million years before it completely disappears.
Although the erosion of Saturn’s rings won't affect us here on earth, it's still sad to
think that, this mighty gas planet, that stands out so magnificently from its neighbours will
one day be ringless. Fortunately for us, however, we live during
a time when this temporary, natural beauty has already been closely photographed in all
its glory, providing each and every person the chance to view the unique feature as if
you were there looking at it with your own eyes.
So if you can get hold of a telescope, aim it at Saturn and take in those amazing views
first hand, because one day in the far future, humanity will be observing a very different
planet.