Saturn's rings are a system of flat concentric formations of ice and dust located in the equatorial plane of Saturn. The ring system of Saturn is the most famous in the solar system.

The history of the discovery of the rings of Saturn

In 1610 Galileo Galilei was the first to see the rings of Saturn, he observed them through his telescope with 20x magnification, but did not identify them as rings. He thought that these rings were giant satellites of the planet, located on opposite sides of it. However, further observations carried out by the scientist over the next several years showed that these rings changed their shape and even disappeared completely, as their tilt in relation to the Earth changed.

In 1655 Christian Huygens became the first person to suggest that Saturn is surrounded by a ring. He built a refractor telescope with 50x magnification, much larger than Galileo's telescope with which he observed Saturn. Astronomer Christian Huygens suggested that these strange bodies were solid, tilted rings.

In 1660 another astronomer suggested that these rings consisted of small satellites, a guess that could not be confirmed for nearly 200 years to come.

In 1675 Giovanni Domenico Cassini determined that Saturn's ring consists of two parts, separated by a dark gap, which was later called the Cassini fission (or gap).

In 1837 Johann Franz Encke noticed a gap in the A ring, which he called the Encke division.

In 1838 Johann Gottfried Halle discovered a ring inside ring B, but his discovery was not taken seriously, and received recognition only after the rediscovery of this ring in 1850 by W.C.Bond, D.F.Bond and W.R. Daves, it became known as the ring C, or crepe ring.

In 1859 James Clerk Maxwell showed that rings cannot be solid, because then they would be unstable and would be torn apart. He suggested that the rings are composed of many small particles. In her only astronomical work, published in 1885, Sophia Kovalevskaya showed that rings can be neither liquid nor gaseous. Maxwell's hypothesis was proved in 1895 by the Doppler effect by spectroscopic observations of rings carried out by Aristarchus Belopolsky at Pulkovo and James Edward Keeler at the Allegheny Observatory.

Composite image of Saturn's rings D, C, B, A and F (left to right) in natural colors from images of the Cassini spacecraft on the unlit side of Saturn, May 9, 2007.

Name

Distance to the center of Saturn

67000 - 74,500 km.

74,500 - 92,000 km

Colombo Slit

Maxwell slit

Bond Slit

88690 - 88720 km.

Daves Slit

90200 - 90220 km.

92000 - 117,500 km

Cassini division

117500 — 122200

Huygens gap

Herschel's gap

118183 - 118285 km.

Russell's Slit

118597 - 118630 ​​km.

Jeffreys crevice

118931 - 118969 km.

Kuiper Slit

119403 - 119406 km.

Laplace slit

119848 - 120086 km.

Bessel gap

120236 - 120246 km.

Barnard's slit

120305 - 120318 km.

122200 - 136800 km.

Encke Slit

Keeler Slit

Roche division

136800 - 139380 km.

165,800 - 173,800 km

180,000 - 480,000 km

The ring system is divided into several parts. These rings are named alphabetically according to the dates of their discovery. Thus, the main rings, as we move from the periphery of the system to the center, are called A, B, and C, respectively. A 4,700-kilometer wide gap, known as the Cassini Gap, separates rings A and B.

Ring A (the outermost of the classical ones) has a very sharp edge, which is difficult to explain within the framework of old ideas about the dynamics of rings. In addition, a few thousand kilometers from the outer edge of the ring A is one of the most amazing rings of Saturn - the ring F. It is very narrow, and sometimes it is possible to observe it twisted from several rings - "cords". The study of the dynamics of these rings and small satellites close to them showed that it is the satellites that support the sharp boundary between the F and A rings (and possibly determine their other features). By their gravitational influence, the satellites seem to focus the movement of individual particles in the rings, preventing them from falling out of the general ensemble.

Saturn's rings are made up of billions of particles, ranging in size from a few millimeters to tens of kilometers. Consisting primarily of water ice, these rings also suck in rocky meteoroids moving through space. The rings themselves contain a significant number of gaps and structures. Some of them were created by the numerous small moons of Saturn, while the nature of others of them still continues to baffle astronomers.

Two tiny moons revolve in the gaps (Encke and Keeler gaps) between the rings and keep the gaps open. Other particles (tens to hundreds of meters) are too small to be seen, but they create helical objects in rings that allow us to see them.

The origin of the rings of Saturn

According to the new model, there were several successive absorptions by Saturn of its satellites, billions of years ago, orbiting the young gas giant. Kanup's calculations show that after the formation of Saturn, about 4.5 billion years ago, at the dawn of the solar system, several large satellites revolved around it, each of which was one and a half times the size of the moon. Gradually, due to the gravitational effect, these satellites, one after another, "dumped" into the bowels of Saturn. Of the "primary" satellites, only Titan remains today. In the process of leaving their orbits and entering the spiral trajectory, these satellites were destroyed. In this case, the light ice component remained in space, while the heavy mineral components of celestial bodies were absorbed by the planet. Subsequently, the ice was captured by the gravity of the next satellite of Saturn, and the cycle was repeated again. When Saturn captured the last of its "primary" satellites, which became a giant ice ball with a solid mineral core, a "cloud" of ice formed around the planet. Fragments of this "cloud" were from 1 to 50 kilometers in diameter and formed the primary ring of Saturn. In terms of mass, this ring was 1,000 times larger than the modern ring system, but over the next 4.5 billion years, collisions of ice blocks forming the ring led to crushing of the ice to the size of hailstones. At the same time, most of the matter was absorbed by the planet, and also lost when interacting with asteroids and comets, many of which also became victims of Saturn's gravity.

Saturn is one of the most mesmerizing planets for both professional and amateur astronomers. We are most interested in this planet by its characteristic rings. Although they cannot be seen with the naked eye, anyone can make out these impressive rings even through the weakest telescope.

And although we see this system of formations as one massive wide ring orbiting the planet, Saturn's ring system consists of many different rings, differing from each other in density, thickness and width.

Composed primarily of ice and dust, Saturn's rings are held in orbit by the complex gravitational forces of the gas giant and its satellites, some of which are actually located within the rings.

The facts about Saturn's rings become even brighter and more real when accompanied by photographs taken by countless telescopes and spacecraft flying by them. Despite the fact that mankind has learned a lot about rings since they were first discovered four centuries ago, scientists continue to research them to supplement their knowledge.

Get inspired by their beauty and majesty by reading these 25 facts about Saturn's rings and seeing just as many great photos!

25. In 1610, the famous astronomer and enemy of the church, Galileo Galilei, became the first person to point his telescope at Saturn. He saw strange, fuzzy shapes near the planet. And since his telescope was not powerful enough, he did not realize that these were the rings of Saturn.

24. Saturn's rings are made up of billions of ice particles and debris, ranging in size from one centimeter to ten meters.

23. With the naked eye, we can see five planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. But to see the rings of Saturn, you need a telescope with at least 20x magnification.

22. The rings are named alphabetically based on the date they were discovered. The closest ring to the planet is the D ring, followed by the C, B, A, F, Janus / Epimetheus, G, Pallene and E rings.

21. Saturn's rings are believed to be the remnants of passing planets (mostly), asteroids or collapsed satellites - in large part because 93% of their mass is composed of water in the form of ice with minor impurities.

20. The first to see and identify the rings of Saturn was the Dutch astronomer Christian Huygens in 1655. Then he suggested that the gas giant has one solid, thin and flat ring.

19. The source of the matter of the E ring - ice - according to scientists, is the sixth moon of Saturn, Enceladus, on the surface of which geysers are active, throwing huge jets of water into space. This satellite is very important to us, since under its surface there is supposedly an ocean in which life is possible.

18. Each ring revolves around Saturn at a different speed.

17. Saturn's rings are most famous in the solar system, but another gas giant, Jupiter, and the ice giants Neptune and Uranus also have rings.

16. The rings of the planet can serve as a kind of historical record, showing evidence of comets and meteorites flying through them on their collision path with the planet. Scientists studying ring C have discovered a swell in its layers, which they suspect is caused by fragments of comets or asteroids.

15. While a comet can leave a hole in the ring, a massive body - weighing between 100 million and 10 billion tons - collided with the rings in 1983, causing them to wobble. They will fluctuate for hundreds of years.

14. Particles within the rings of Saturn can sometimes gather in vertical clusters, forming formations over 3 kilometers high.

13. Saturn is the second most rotational planet after Jupiter, making a complete revolution around its own axis in 10 hours 34 minutes 13 seconds. Because of its speed, the planet acquires a convex shape at the equator (and more flattened at the poles), which further emphasizes its rings.

12. The narrow F ring (although in reality these are three narrow rings), located just behind Saturn's main ring system, appears to have kinks, kinks and clusters. Scientists speculate that minisatellites could be trapped within the structure, giving the ring a twisted and braided appearance.

11. To orbit Saturn, the robotic interplanetary station Cassini neatly flew between rings F and G before becoming an artificial satellite of the planet.

10. The slits in ring A - the Keeler slit and the Encke slit - have their own tiny companions: Daphnis inside the Keeler slit and Pan inside the Encke slit.

9. Although Saturn's rings cast a shadow 280,000 kilometers into space, they are typically less than 9 meters thick.

8. In the rings of Saturn, formations have been found that run across the rings and look like ghosts, which scientists have called "spokes". The prevailing scientific opinion is that these are electrically charged layers of tiny dust-like particles that can form and dissipate in just a few hours.

While scientists do not understand what causes them to form, there are theories that include meteorites striking rings, or beams of electrons from lightning in Saturn's atmosphere being thrown into rings.

7. The second largest moon of Saturn, Rhea, may have its own ring system. Rings have never been found around the satellite, and at the moment there is weak evidence of this, however, signs of deceleration of electrons near Rhea and the presence of ice on the satellite's surface (from ice formations from the ring that fall from orbit) leave this question unresolved.

6. Despite their apparent size, these rings are actually quite lightweight. The largest of the 62 satellites of Saturn, Titan, makes up more than 90% of the total mass of the satellites orbiting this planet.

5. The Cassini division is a gap in the ring formed between the main rings B and A, the gap of which is 4700 kilometers.

4. Some satellites of Saturn - especially Pandora and Prometheus - hold the extreme particles of the rings, not allowing them to go away from them, then you are scattered in space. Such satellites are called "shepherd" satellites, because they seem to "graze" these particles.

3. Recently, a new giant ring was discovered by astronomers around Saturn. Located 3.7-11.1 million kilometers from the planet's surface, this ring is tilted 27 degrees in relation to the plane of the remaining rings. In addition, it rotates in the opposite direction.

2. The new ring is so rarefied that once it gets into it, it is difficult to notice, even though a billion planets, comparable in size to the Earth, can fit within it. The ring was only recently discovered because its cold particles (around -193 ° C) can only be seen with an infrared telescope.

1. According to discoveries made in 2014, scientists believe that at least several of Saturn's moons may have formed at the edges of its rings.

Images of the A-ring boundary show what might have been a small satellite forming under the influence of gravity. Since many of Saturn's moons are icy and ice particles are the main components of the rings, it is hypothesized that the moons were formed by distant rings that existed in the distant past.

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The rings of the planet Saturn with a photo: how many rings, what are they made of, what are they called, size and speed, radius, list of rings, Galileo's observations, origin.

The discovery of rings around the planet Saturn came as a shock to scientists. Galileo Galilei first noticed them in 1610, but the Voyager flyby in the 1980s. left many mysteries.

The ring system of Saturn contains billions of particles. Their sizes can reach dust grains, while others resemble rocks. Some of them are responsible for the formation of gaps between the rings, while others are so small that they are not visible separately, but are woven into a common arc. Below is a list with parameters and you can find out what the rings of Saturn are called.

It is believed that the rings of Saturn are the remnants of comets and destroyed satellites. Each makes a revolution around the planet at its own speed. It should be noted that ring systems are also present in Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. But in terms of scale and entertainment, Saturn is in the first place. Together, its rings cover 282,000 km in thickness.

Saturn's rings designation

The names are in the English alphabet. You will easily understand what the rings of Saturn are called, because they are named in the order of discovery and are located close. Only the Cassini gap stands out - 4700 km. The main ones are C, B and A. The Cassini gap separates B and A. There are also weak rings. The closest is D. F - narrow, located near A. The weak are G and E.

To get to the orbital point of Saturn, Cassini had to pass between F and G. To secure the device, it was set up for autonomous control and all cameras and devices were turned off. But the passage allowed to get a huge amount of information about the rings and their view from the inside.

Discovery of the rings of Saturn

For thousands of years, mankind has followed the night sky, but it was not until 1619 that Galileo Galilei first managed to notice this planetary feature. But it seemed to him that next to the planet there are two more planets that are devoid of motion. He simply described Saturn as a "planet with ears." When surveyed in 1612, he noticed that the "ears" disappeared and appeared in 1613.

Fast facts:

• location: around the equator of Saturn.
• thickness: from 10 m to 1 km.
• diameter: 280 360 km.
• composition: millions of particles, including 99.9% ice with admixtures of minerals.
• discovery: in 1610 by Galileo Galilei.
• structure: 13 small rings separated by gaps.
• another: the rings are not visible every 14 years, because they are turned towards us.

In 1655, Christian Huygens used more powerful apparatus and saw the rings in their true nature. It turned out that in 1612 the "ears" disappeared, because they turned their point towards the Earth. But in 1613, the angle of view changed, and they reappeared. We now know that this happens every 14 years.

In 1675, Giovanni Cassini noted that the ring does not protrude solid, but is represented by several arcs separated by gaps. The largest was named the Cassini gap. In 1859, James Maxwell calculated that rings cannot protrude solid because they are torn by gravitational forces. He suggested that we encountered millions of small particles in orbit around the planet. This was confirmed in 1895 in a spectroscopic survey.

Planetary systems of white dwarfs

Astrophysicist Roman Rafikov on the discs around white dwarfs, Saturn's rings and the future of the solar system

The size and composition of Saturn's rings

How many rings does Saturn have? Observations with modern instruments show that about 13 concentric rings are concentrated around the planet. Most are alphabetically named in order of discovery (the Cassini break separates A and B). The part of the system observed through the telescope starts at D (66,900 km from Saturn) and moves towards F (140,180 km). This is a distance of 73280 km. But dust particles can be recorded at a distance of 13,000,000 km.

The visible part is observed at a distance of 280 360 km, where the width of the rings reaches only 10 m and 1 km. Despite the scale of the annular area, the rings are devoid of remarkable density. If you put all the material together, you would get an approximate volume of Mimas (diameter - 396 km)

What are the rings of Saturn made of? Analysis of the rings shows that they are 99.9% filled with ice and a small amount of minerals. In size they are able to resemble pebbles or rocks with the parameters of a house. The probes showed that intricate web-like patterns could be found inside the rings. Most likely, the gravitational effect of the planet and satellites is visible here. Some shepherd moons revolve around the rings and form gaps. For example, the F-ring exists due to the activity of Pandora and Prometheus.

The origin of the rings of Saturn

There are several theories about the origin of the rings. In the 19th century, Edouard Roche suggested that it was residual material from a large planetary satellite, torn apart by gravity. Using mathematical calculations, he determined the critical distance of the hypothetical moon. Now this is used as the "Roche limit" and can be applied to any celestial body.

It is also believed that the rings are represented by matter left over from the original material of planetary formation. As a result, the debris beyond the Roche line merged and created moons, and the rest went to form rings. Or there was a large satellite destroyed by an impact / collision.

01.02.2018 21:37 3014

Why does Saturn have rings?

The planet Saturn is the second largest planet in our solar system and the sixth farthest from the Sun. You guys are probably familiar with this planet because of the mysterious rings that surround Saturn.

What do these rings represent and why are they needed?

Now we will find out.

Saturn's rings surround the planet near the equator - that is, in the middle of the planet. Their diameter is approximately 250,000 km. Moreover, the thickness of the rings is only 1.5 km.

For the first time the rings of Saturn were seen in a telescope by the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei in 1610. But he assumed that he saw unknown bulges on the sides of the planet. The fact that Saturn has rings was suggested by the Dutch astronomer Christian Gugens, looking at the planet through a more powerful telescope.

Scientists designated the largest rings by the letters A, B and C. After them, three more rings were discovered. Astronomers named them D, E and F. Today, scientists are studying Saturn using the artificial satellite Cassini. They managed to open many more rings on this unusual planet!

Saturn's rings are made up of pieces of ice and stones. Their sizes can be the size of a soccer ball, or they can be as large as a two-story house! The sun's rays hitting the ice stones are reflected and an unusual glow is formed in space. Therefore, Saturn's rings are so bright that they can be seen in a telescope.

There is no exact answer to the question of how these rings were formed. Scientists suggest that Saturn once collided with a large cosmic body. Perhaps one of his companions. Upon impact, Saturn was not injured, but another cosmic body was scattered into many fragments. These debris are now orbiting the planet thanks to the gravitational pull of Saturn. There is an assumption that the rings of Saturn are fragments of its former satellite. Due to the influence of the forces of gravity of Saturn, the satellite collapsed, and its fragments began to revolve around the planet. Some scientists speculate that the asteroids and pieces of ice surrounding Saturn are remnants of a circumpolar cloud (cosmic dust). From its outer parts, the satellites of Saturn turned out, and the inner parts remained in the form of rings.

By the way, did you guys know that besides Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune also have rings. But they are not that big and not so bright. They can only be seen with a very powerful telescope.

Saturn's rings are the most picturesque phenomenon in the solar system.

Who was the first to see the rings of Saturn?

The first rings of Saturn were seen in 1610 by the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei, when he pointed a telescope made by him at Saturn. He expressed his impression as follows: "Saturn has two ears." Using a stronger telescope, the Dutchman Christian Huygens in 1655 made out what Galileo did not see. He observed magnificent rings around Saturn suspended in space.

As if suspended from a pale yellow-brown planet, the rings shine and shine in the rays of the distant Sun. Like Jupiter, Saturn is a gigantic gaseous world covered in a hydrogen atmosphere and icy clouds of ammonia and water ice. The planet's surface is a liquid metal like hydrogen. Saturn's shining rings are composed of frozen water - ice.

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What are Saturn's rings made of?

They are made up of chunks of ice of various sizes - from cubes that would fit in a glass of soft drink to medium-sized icebergs. When viewed from a distance, it appears that the pieces of ice orbiting Saturn at a speed of 72,000 kilometers per hour form several wide rings. Before the flights of Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, which explored Saturn at close range, flying past it, many scientists believed that there were three or four ice rings orbiting Saturn.

The very first pictures sent by the spacecraft turned out to be a revelation. Instead of a few rings, there were several thousand. In some places, deep gaps are visible between the rings, but most of the rings were located very close to each other, like grooves in a CD.

Interesting fact: each ring of Saturn is made up of hundreds of thousands of pieces of ice.

Voyager spacecraft cameras were too far from the rings to get high-quality images of individual pieces of ice. But from the pictures it becomes clear that the rings are very thin: the stars are visible through them. Another surprise. The transparent junctions between the rings are chunks of ice between one and ninety kilometers across, called holes. Not to be confused with the actual moons of Saturn. It is believed that the gravity of the holes, together with the gravity of the real satellites of Saturn, determines the spatial orientation of the rings.