• Question: what are the rings of saturn the planet made of

    Asked by rockyali22 to Roisin, Michel, Mark, Karen, Gavin on 10 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Mark Kennedy

      Mark Kennedy answered on 10 Nov 2016:


      The rings are made up of tiny little particles (that range in size from micrometres to metres). The particles are mostly water-ice, but a few are just chunks of rock. The disk might once have been a moon that was torn up into smaller fragments due to the strong tidal forces exerted by Saturn, or else its material left over from the start of the solar system.

      The Cassini mission has some amazing images of the rings of Saturn (https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/galleries/images/)

    • Photo: Roisin Jones

      Roisin Jones answered on 10 Nov 2016:


      I think Mark has this one well covered!

    • Photo: Gavin Coleman

      Gavin Coleman answered on 10 Nov 2016:


      They’re due to a really cool thing that happens when a large mass comes within what’s called the Roche limit of a planet that’s large and heavy enough. There’s a really cool gif of it here:

      Saturn’s size makes its gravity quite strong, so if a moon, or space dust, or anything gets too close, it has the potential to be ripped apart. The dust is then able to exist as a ring around the planet.

    • Photo: Karen

      Karen answered on 12 Nov 2016:


      Again I’ve learned something new here from the physicists!

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