Astronomers have studied the outermost ring of Saturn. Many of Saturn's moons are icy. The Man Who Defined Saturn's Rings
SATURN: THE MAGNIFICENT OF THE RINGS.
SATURN appears to the naked eye as a star of the 1st magnitude, it is much fainter in brightness than Venus, Jupiter and Mars. Its dim light, which has a dull white tint, as well as its very slow movement across the sky, gave the planet a bad name, and being born under the sign of Saturn was considered an ill omen. In a telescope of medium strength, it is clearly visible that the ball of Saturn will be strongly flattened - even more than Jupiter. On the surface of the planet, stripes parallel to the equator stand out, though less distinct than those of Jupiter.
The dimensions of Saturn are many times the size of the Earth.
The diameter of Saturn is 120,000 km and its mass is 5.7 x 1026 kg.
Orbital inclination –2.5 degrees; the period of revolution around the Sun is 29.46 years. Density - 690 kg / m3. Saturn is the only planet in Solar system, the density of which is less than the density of water.
Saturn could float in water.
The period of rotation around the axis, sidereal day, is 10 hours 14 minutes (at latitudes 30 degrees). Since Saturn is not a solid ball, but consists of gas and liquid, its equatorial parts rotate faster than the polar regions. At the poles, one revolution is completed about 26 minutes slower than at the equator. Average period the rotation around the axis is 10 hours 40 minutes.
Light yellow Saturn outwardly looks more modest than its neighbor - orange Jupiter. It does not have such a colorful cloud cover. Saturn is mainly composed of hydrogen, helium and nitrogen. Only the content of helium in its atmosphere is lower than that of Jupiter: it is more evenly distributed over the entire mass of the planet. Due to the lesser gravity, Saturn's atmosphere is deeper than Jupiter's.
When immersed in the atmosphere, the temperature rises.
A giant atmospheric current tens of thousands of kilometers wide passes along the planet's equator, its speed reaching 500 m / s. Although the spots of atmospheric vortices on Saturn are inferior in size to the Jupiterian Great Red Spot, grandiose storms are observed there, even from Earth. The strength of the winds weakens with distance from the equator.
Auroras can be observed near the poles of the planet.
Auroras on Saturn.
Below the atmosphere is an ocean of liquid molecular hydrogen. At a depth of about 30,000 km, hydrogen becomes metallic (the pressure reaches about 3 million atmospheres). The movement of the metal creates a powerful magnetic field. In the center of the planet there is a massive core (up to 20 Earth masses) of stone, iron and, possibly ... ice (that is, in in this case a mixture of crystals of water, methane and ammonia).
RINGS OF SATURN.
The rings of Saturn (and of other planets too) are the remnants of a huge, near-planetary cloud, many millions of kilometers long. From the outer regions of this cloud satellites were formed, and in the inner regions the formation of satellites was "forbidden". Since the speeds of mutual collisions increase when approaching the planet, there is a region near each planet where particles, having reached certain sizes, begin to fall apart from mutual collisions. Billions of years of collisions - and 10-meter particles have reached such a loose state that they crumble from the slightest shock at a speed of a millimeter per second! Any large particle in a few days or weeks, a full cycle goes from destruction to recovery.
This mutual competition, which prevents large satellites from forming, weakens with distance from the planet, and at some distance part of the substance turns into satellites, and part is still in a fragmented state - in the form of a ring. The total mass of Saturn's ice rings is comparable to the mass of its satellite Mimas, whose radius is 200 km.
Why are the rings flat? Their flattening is the result of the opposition of two main forces: gravitational and centrifugal. Gravitational attraction seeks to compress the system from all sides, and rotation prevents compression across the axis of rotation, but cannot prevent it from flattening along the axis. This is the origin of various cosmic disks, including planetary rings.
The rings of Saturn constantly excited the imagination of scientists with their unique shape... They were studied by such brilliant astronomers, mechanics and mathematicians as J.C. Maxwell, J.D. Cassini,. It is interesting that the fact of the division of the rings of Saturn into separate narrow rings was predicted back in 1755 by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant.
The plane of the planet's equator, its rings and satellite system is tilted to the plane of the earth's orbit by more than 26 degrees. This creates favorable opportunities for observing the rings of Saturn. This planet is almost 10 times farther from the Sun than the Earth, so we always look at it as if from the direction of the Sun. During one orbital revolution, it turns its north and south pole to us. Accordingly, the rings are visible now "from above", now "from below", and sometimes they disappear completely (when they face the observer with their edge).
If you look at the rings from a distance of 100-200 thousand km, it turns out that they are stratified into thousands of rings. There are narrow streams among them. The edges of some of the rings are jagged, and they themselves sway under the gravitational pressure of the satellites, bending and forming waves. Spiral waves, elliptical rings, strange weaves of narrow rings ... all the surprises of the rings are difficult to list.
Rings of Saturn.
Well, if you get close to the rings, then they will finally lose their solidity for us and turn into great amount separate "satellites" of Saturn - particles from ordinary water ice of very different sizes: from small grains of dust to boulders with a diameter of 10-15 m. These snow bodies revolve around Saturn at a speed of about 10 km / s. Their velocities are so well balanced that neighboring particles appear stationary in relation to each other. In fact, they move very slowly in different directions- at a speed of 1-2 mm / s. Terrestrial snails crawl at about this speed. The inner parts of the rings rotate faster than the outer ones.
The rings themselves are extremely thin: about 10-20 m thick. If Saturn's rings are reduced to a meter in size, then their thickness will be a thousandth of a millimeter.
Three rings are clearly distinguishable from the Earth - A, V and WITH - different brightness. The outer radius of the rings is 137 thousand km. Quite wide Cassini division separates rings A and V black stripe.
In the ring V the particles are arranged so densely that, having flown into the middle, we will lose sight of the stars. There are more transparent areas, such as a ring WITH or Cassini division (Cassini slit), as well as weaker rings - D, E,F.
Cassini slit can be seen with an average telescope from Earth, and on clear nights you can even see less noticeable crevices.
If you rise above the plane of the rings, you can see an endless snow field. Inside it rises the giant hemisphere of Saturn, illuminated by the Sun.
SATELLITES OF SATURN.
The satellite system of Saturn is quite complex. 30 satellites are known; 22 of them are named after the heroes of ancient myths about titans and giants. Almost all of these cosmic bodies are light and consist mainly of water ice. Their density is 1200 - 1400 kg / m3 (excluding Titan).
The largest satellites have an inner rocky core. Most of the satellites, except for Hyperion and Phoebe, have their own synchronous rotation - they are always turned to Saturn with one side (like the Moon in relation to the Earth).
The layout of the satellites of Saturn.
Let's make short review satellites of Saturn, starting with the ones closest to the planet.
On outer edge rings, 10 small (10 - 100 km in diameter) icy satellites were found. Two of them are - PROMETHEUS and PANDORA (orbital radii - 139 and 142 thousand km) - as if "guarded" by a narrow ring located between them.
The other two - JANUS and EPIMETHY - are practically in the same orbit with a radius of 151 thousand km. They "dance" in orbit, periodically changing places (one or the other satellite approaches the planet).
MIMAS.
It was discovered by W. Herschel in 1789 (together with Enceladus ) . It has a spherical shape. The huge Herschel crater, 130 km wide, reaches 1/3 of the satellite's diameter (400 km). The radius of the orbit of Mimas is 185.5 thousand km.
ENCELAD. Diameter 500 km, orbital radius 238 thousand km. Reflects almost 100% of the incident light. This is the lightest body in the solar system, probably covered with a thin continuous layer of young frost.
https://pandia.ru/text/78/409/images/image013_11.jpg "align =" left "width =" 333 "height =" 333 "> TEPHIA . Diameter 1050 km, orbital radius 295 thousand km. The satellite is remarkable for the Odysseus crater, 400 km wide (2/5 of the satellite's diameter) and the giant Ithaca canyon, which stretches for 3 thousand km. It is the only satellite in the solar system that has two small (20 km in size) co-orbiting satellites - TELESTO and CALYPSO located 60 degrees in front of and behind Tethys - in the so-called Lagrange points. Tefia was discovered together with Dione in 1684 by Giovanni Domenico Cassini.
DIONE . The diameter is 1120 km, the orbital radius is 377 thousand km. Looks like Tethys and has a small co-orbital satellite ELENA 60 degrees ahead of you.
Several craters have been discovered on Dionea. The largest of them is about 100 km across.
Dion's companion.
Rhea. The diameter is 1530 km, the radius of the orbit is 527 thousand km. Discovered in 1672 by G. D. Cassini.
Rhea is a densely cratered body, the second largest (after Titan) satellite of Saturn. It is less geologically active than Dione. Rhea has craters up to 300 km in diameter.
TITANIUM. The largest moon of Saturn - weighs 20 times more than all the other satellites combined. It is the second largest (after Ganymede) satellite of the planet in the solar system: its diameter is 5150 km - more than that of Mercury. The radius of its orbit is 1.222 million km. Discovered in 1655 by H. Huygens.
The density of Titanium is 1880 kg / m3. It has a rocky core and ice mantle.
Titanium. Photo of the spacecraft "Cassini".
The uniqueness of Titan is that it has a powerful atmosphere with dense aerosol haze and clouds about 200 km high. It is the only satellite in the solar system whose surface is inaccessible to observations by conventional optical means. Titanium color - red-brown, with seasonal changes... The atmosphere consists of 85% nitrogen, 12% argon, about 3% methane; impurities of oxygen, hydrogen, ethane, propane and other gases have also been found.
Comparative sizes of the Earth, Titan and the Moon.
The pressure of gases near the surface of Titan is about one and a half times greater than on Earth. Temperature upper layers the atmosphere is 150 K. The temperature of the satellite's surface is 100 K. Methane plays important role in maintaining the thermal regime of the atmosphere. Thanks to him, something similar to the Earth's greenhouse effect is observed on Titan, due to which the satellite's atmosphere has a higher temperature.
HYPERION. Dark companion irregular shape(330 x 240 x 200 km) with chaotic proper rotation. The radius of its orbit is 1.481 million km. The satellite was discovered in 1848 by the American astronomers J. Bond and W. Bond and independently by the Englishman W. Lassell.
YAPET. Diameter 1440 km, orbital radius 3.561 million km. It is notable for a sharp asymmetry of the brightness of the hemispheres - 10 times! Scientists associate the strong blackening of the front (in the direction of travel) side of Iapetus with the bombardment of fine dust from the external satellite - Phoebe. YAPET has a highly cratered surface. Discovered by J.D. Cassini in 1671.
PHOEBE. The darkest and most distant (12.95 million km) satellite of Saturn revolves around the planet in the opposite direction. The diameter of this almost spherical satellite is 220 km. Phoebe makes one revolution around Saturn in 1.5 years. Discovered in 1898 by the American astronomer William Pickering.
But only at Saturn they, one might say, have become a kind of " business card"This planet. Due to its brightness and beauty, it is Saturn that is the only planet that is depicted with rings, although in fact, they are also in, though not as bright and noticeable as Saturn.
Who opened the rings of Saturn
The first to see the rings of Saturn back in 1610 was the great astronomer who invented the telescope, which became a true scientific sensation of those times. But Galileo Galilei could not explain the nature and origin of the rings, since they were discovered, for centuries, they remained a mystery to mankind. Yes, however, they remain to this day, since a detailed study of the rings of Saturn, undertaken by NASA in the 1980s with the help of the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft, only added secrets.
What are Saturn's rings made of?
Scientists believe that the rings around Saturn consist of numerous, asteroids and destroyed satellites, being destroyed before they reached the surface of the planet, they themselves replenished with myriads of particles of these very rings.
The particle size of the ring can vary from small pebbles to huge boulders the size of a mountain. Also, each ring rotates around the planet at its own speed. What determines the speed of Saturn's rings, there is no exact answer yet.
Rings of Saturn photo
We bring to your attention beautiful pictures rings of Saturn.
Where did Saturn get the rings
Now in science there are two theories explaining the origin of the rings of Saturn. According to the first, they were formed as a result of the collapse of either a large meteorite, or an unwary satellite. The destruction could have been caused by the powerful gravitational influences of Saturn, literally tearing a certain celestial object into small pieces.
But there is another theory on this score, according to it, the rings are the remnants of a large near-planetary cloud. From the outer part of this cloud, the satellites of Saturn were formed (there are 62 of them), and the inner part remained in the form of cosmic dust, of which the famous rings are now composed.
Saturn's ring system
The rings were named alphabetically in the order in which they were found. The rings themselves are located quite close to each other, the only exception is the so-called Casini division, which has a gap in space of 4700 km. This is the largest gap separating ring A from ring B.
An interesting fact: the F ring is located between two moons of Saturn: Prometheus and Pandora, scientists believe that these satellites, with their gravitational effects, can change the shape of the rings.
How many rings does Saturn have
Next, let's try to answer the question about the number of rings of Saturn. Now astronomers have recorded rings D, C, B, A, F, G, E, while the outermost ring E is not visible to optical systems, it was recorded using devices that respond to charged particles and electric fields.
Rings A, B and C can be called the main rings of the planet, they are clearly visible through a telescope. Ring A is conditionally the outer ring, ring B is the middle ring and ring C is the inner ring. Rings D, E and F are weaker and not so easy to see through a telescope, and ring E is completely impossible.
But this is not all, because the rings called by Latin beeches are very conditional, since with a more detailed approximation we will see that each of the rings of Saturn breaks up into smaller ones, and those into even smaller parts. As a result, the number of rings of Saturn can tend to infinity.
Saturn's rings color
Spacecraft images of Saturn's rings show that the rings have different colors.
You can see it yourself in the picture. Since the rings glow due to reflected sunlight, their radiation should have a solar spectrum. But this is provided that the rings have absolute reflectivity. In fact, the particles that make up the rings, in turn, are mainly composed of water ice, with minor impurities of a darker color.
Rings of Saturn video
And in conclusion, an interesting popular science film about the appearance of the rings of Saturn.
Saturn's rings are one of the most striking features of the solar system. They surround the sixth planet from the sun in strange configurations, each thousand miles wide, but only a few meters thick.
What are Saturn's rings made of?
Saturn's rings are composed primarily of ice with small amount stones. Scientists have a better understanding of dynamics than ever before thanks to the Cassini spacecraft, which ends its mission on Friday (September 15) with a dip in Saturn's atmosphere, after 13 years of planetary rotation. During this time, Cassini sent unprecedented photographs of Saturn's rings to earth, giving researchers gaze some of the odd structures found among the ice.
The rings were first discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galileo, who could simply see them with a telescope. Scientists today have identified seven separate rings, each with a name. The lettering names are a bit scrambled because the rings got their names in the order they were discovered, not the order they are from their planet. Closest to Saturn is the faint D-ring, followed by the three brightest and most large rings: C, B and A. Ring F is surrounded only outside of ring A, followed by ring G and finally ring E.
According to NASA, the rings reach 175,000 miles (282,000 kilometers) from the planet. They are mostly close neighbors, with the exception of the 2,720-kilometer wide Cassini between A and B, so named because it was discovered by the 17th century Italian astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini. Despite the incredible width of the rings, they are thin, only 33 feet (10 m) thick in most places and up to a kilometer in others. For reference, Saturn itself is huge - 764 Earth planets can fit into a ringed planet.
Saturn and its rings
The scaling of Saturn's rings is made of very small particles, slightly smaller than a grain of sand, interspersed with random mountain ice blocks. Scientists suspect that many of the particles are chunks of shattered comets or dead satellites, although their exact origin and formation remain a mystery. The Cassini mission was able to trace the source of some of these particles to the moon of the planet Enceladus, which is releasing gas and ice into space. Other parts of the rings appear to come from debris from some of Saturn's inner moons, which also play a role in the gravitational formation of the rings. These moons revolve around the rings of Saturn, and like them, they help to separate the rings and limit their width. For example, the inner edge of ring A is determined by the gravitational influence of the moon Mimas.
The moon Pan supports Saturn's Encke, a 200-mile (325 kilometers) band in Ring A. The rings are very cold. In 2004, the Cassini spacecraft measured them on its unlit side between minus 264.1 degrees and minus 333.4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 163 degrees and minus 203 degrees Celsius). They are not as rosy as some astronomical images make them so: increased contrast can lead to dramatic portraits, and some images use color to convey information about temperature or density, but natural color images show a tenderness ranging from white to light yellow to slightly pink. brown.
Density of Saturn's rings
Each ring has different density, from the dense B ring to the hazy weakness of the G ring. They are very dynamic, and thanks to the interaction of particles inside them, the rings are far from smooth. Mimas is just one example of a shepherd moon in the rings. Another moon, Pan, sweeps across the 200-kilometer Encke Gap in Ring A. This gap in Ring A will sculpt into a scallop shape on the 12-mile wide (20 km) moon.
Some rings also contain skewed features called "propellers," which are small notches caused by tiny moon holes without gravity to open a crack, like Encke or Cassini gaps. Another weird feature of rings is the "spokes" that look like wedges or lines that rotate around the rings. According to NASA's Cassini mission page, these spokes are conglomerates of its tiny ice particles that levitate over the ring's surface through an electrostatic charge. They are temporary and were discovered by the Cassini mission in 2005.
In a large telescope at Saturn, three rings are visible: an outer ring of medium brightness, the middle, brightest, and an inner translucent ring ("crepe"). In order of distance from Saturn, they are designated by the letters of the Latin alphabet: C, B, A.
In particular favorable period 1966, when the rings were turned towards the terrestrial observer with their unlit side and almost edge (which means that the bright rings did not interfere with observations), a very weak outermost ring was discovered.Another ring (also very weak) was noticed by ground observers during the inner space between the "crepe" ring C and the planet itself.
The space messengers confirmed the presence of these extremely rarefied rings on Saturn and clarified: the outermost ring is represented by three independent rings, separated by gaps. The outer radius of the outermost of these three rings covers an area of up to 6 planetary radii, that is, it reaches 360 thousand km.
So, general structure rings of Saturn is represented by seven more or less wide rings, separated by intervals. But over 99% of the reflected sunlight comes from only two rings that are well observed from Earth: the middle, brightest, and the outer ring separated from it by the Cassini slit.
Very interesting results were obtained by Voyagers. Voyager 1 showed that visible through telescopes wide rings Saturn is made up of hundreds of narrow rings. And Voyager 2, which had more sensitive television cameras, "saw" that all the narrow rings are divided into even narrower rings, which are like grooves on a gramophone record. The number of such rings within the camera resolution (about 100 m) reaches about 10 thousand. In fact, there can be more than 100 thousand of them. But why the particles in the rings do not fill the entire space evenly, but are grouped into narrow rings?
Soviet scientists A.M. Fridman and V.L. Polyachenko explained this by the fact that a ring uniformly filled with particles has greater potential energy than a ring divided into separate rings. And since any physical system seeks to take a position corresponding to the minimum potential energy, then the evolution of the rings brought them to their present state.
It has long been proven that the rings of Saturn are made up of billions of small particles, each of which revolves around the planet like a tiny moon. Scientists were interested in the size of these mini-moons and their chemical composition... It was also known from ground-based spectral observations that the particles of the rings are probably icy. Onboard instruments installed on spacecraft confirmed the correctness of this conclusion. At the very low temperature that the rings have (average -206 ° C), it really can be entirely ice particles or covered with a layer of ice (with a stone "bone" inside). They are very small, and it was not possible to discern them even with the help of television cameras of spacecraft flying near Saturn. Nevertheless, space experiments have helped to reliably estimate the physicochemical characteristics of these invisible particles.
The particle diameters were measured by the method of radio occultation of the spacecraft by the rings of Saturn. The spacecraft radio beam sequentially penetrated the outer ring, the Cassini slit, the inner, lightest ring and the "crepe" ring inside it. When radio waves pass through this or that ring, they are scattered by the particles of the ring. By the nature of the scattering of radio waves, it was found that the average particle diameter is different - from several centimeters to several tens of meters. The smallest of them are concentrated in the "crepe" ring, the largest (the size of a house) - in the outer one. There are also large blocks in the rings - up to several hundred meters in diameter. Strong scattering, but not radio waves, but visible light, was found in two of the outermost rings. This indicates the presence of significant amounts of fine dust in their composition.
The researchers were also interested in the question: do the particles of the rings consist entirely of ice or are they only covered with ice? Radar helped solve this mystery. As you know, rocky particles absorb radio waves, and ring particles turned out to be good reflectors of radio waves. Consequently, Saturn's rings are mostly icy.
This huge system of rings, reaching twice the Earth-Moon distance in diameter, turned out to be surprisingly very thin. Judging by the images transmitted by Voyager 2, the thickness of the rings in some areas is 150 m, and there are places where it barely reaches 100 m. Apparently, the thickness of the rings varies from several tens to several hundred meters and is commensurate with the size the largest particles.
An attempt was also made by spacecraft to measure the mass of the rings. Most likely, it is close to one ten-millionth of the mass of Saturn itself, or one hundred thousandth the mass of the Earth, or equal to about one thousandth the mass of the Moon.
Concluding the story about the rings of Saturn, I would like to once again touch on the problem of their origin. The rings could have formed as a result of the destruction of one of Saturn's close moons by powerful tidal forces.
The Moscow astronomer M.S.Bobrov has long expressed the idea that the rings of Saturn are not a satellite torn apart by the planet's gravity, but, on the contrary, particles of protoplanetary matter, which tidal forces prevented from forming into a single satellite. Therefore, the region of Saturn's rings is perhaps almost the only place in the solar system where the remnants of primary, preplanetary matter have been preserved. Studying it could shed light on the history of the origin of the planets.
Saturn is one of the most mysterious planets for both professional astronomers and amateurs. Much of the interest in the planet comes from the characteristic rings around Saturn. Although not visible to the naked eye, the rings can be seen even with a weak telescope.
Most of Saturn's ice rings are kept in orbit by the complex gravitational forces of the gas giant and its satellites, some of which are actually within the rings. Despite the fact that people have learned a lot about rings since they were first discovered 400 years ago, this knowledge is constantly being updated (for example, the ring farthest from the planet was discovered only ten years ago).
1. Galileo Galilei and Saturn
In 1610, the famous astronomer and "enemy of the church" Galileo Galilei was the first person to point his telescope at Saturn. He noted the strange formations around the planet. But, since his telescope was not powerful enough, Galileo did not realize that these were rings.
2. Billions of chunks of ice
Saturn's rings are made up of billions of pieces of ice and stone. These fragments range in size from a grain of salt to a small mountain.
3. Only five planets
As you know, a person can see five planets with the naked eye: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. To see Saturn's rings, and not just a ball of light, you need a telescope with at least 20x magnification.
4. Rings are named alphabetically
The rings are named in alphabetical order based on their discovery date. The D ring is closest to the planet, followed by rings C, B, A, F, Janus / Epimetheus, G, Pallene and E.
5. Remains of comets and asteroids
The rings of Saturn, according to most scientists, are the remnants of passing comets and asteroids. Scientists have come to this conclusion because about 93% of the mass of the rings is ice.
6. The person who gave the definition of the rings of Saturn
The first person to actually see and define Saturn's rings was the Dutch astronomer Christian Huygens in 1655. At the time, he suggested that the gas giant has one solid, thin and flat ring.
7. Saturn's moon Enceladus
Thanks to the geysers that abound on the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus, the ice ring E was formed. Scientists pin very high hopes on this satellite, because it has oceans in which life can hide.
8. Rotation speed
Each of the rings revolves around Saturn at a different speed. The speed of rotation of the rings decreases with distance from the planet.
9. Neptune and Uranus
Although Saturn's rings are the most famous in the solar system, three more planets boast rings. We are talking about the gas giant (Jupiter) and the ice giants (Neptune and Uranus).
10. Disturbances in the rings
The planet's rings can act as evidence of how comets and meteors flying through the solar system are attracted to Saturn. In 1983, astronomers discovered ripple-like disturbances in the rings. They believe it was caused by the comet debris colliding with the rings.
11.Clash of 1983
A 1983 collision with a comet weighing between 100 billion and 10 trillion kilograms caused the orbits of rings C and D to be disrupted. The rings are believed to be "aligned" over hundreds of years.
12. Vertical "tubercles" on the rings
Particles inside Saturn's rings can sometimes form vertical formations. It looks like vertical "bumps" on rings about 3 km high.
13. Second after Jupiter
Apart from Jupiter, Saturn is the fastest rotating planet in the solar system - it makes a complete revolution on its axis in just 10 hours and 33 minutes. Due to this rotation rate, Saturn is more convex at the equator (and flattened at the poles), which further emphasizes its iconic rings.
14. Ring F
Located just behind Saturn's main ring system, the narrow F ring (actually three narrow rings) appears to have kinks and clumps in its structure. This led scientists to assume that there may be mini-satellites of the planet inside the ring.
15. Launch of 1997
In 1997, the automatic interplanetary station Cassini was launched to Saturn. Before entering orbit around the planet, the spacecraft flew between rings F and G.
16. Tiny moons of Saturn
In the two crevices or divisions between the rings, namely Keeler (35 km wide) and Encke (325 km wide), there are tiny satellites of Saturn. It is assumed that these gaps in the rings were formed precisely due to the passage of satellites through the rings.
17. The width of Saturn's rings is enormous.
Although the width of Saturn's rings is enormous (80 thousand kilometers), their thickness is relatively very small. As a rule, it is about 10 meters and rarely reaches 1 kilometer.
18. Dark stripes running across the rings
In the rings of Saturn, strange formations that look like ghosts have been discovered. These formations, which look like light and dark stripes running across the rings, are called "spokes". Many theories have been put forward regarding their origins, but unanimous opinion no.
19. Rings of the moon of Saturn
Saturn's second largest moon, Rhea, may have its own rings. They have not yet been discovered, and the existence of rings is assumed on the basis of the fact that the Cassini probe recorded the deceleration of electrons of Saturn's magnetosphere in the vicinity of Rhea.
20. Scanty weight of the rings
Despite the apparent huge size, the rings are actually quite "light". More than 90% of the mass of all matter in orbit of Saturn is in the largest of the 62 satellites of this planet, Titan.
21. Cassini division
The ring rotates in the opposite direction.
Astronomers recently discovered a new, huge ring around Saturn, dubbed the "Phoebe ring." Located at a distance of 3.7 to 11.1 million km from the planet's surface, the new ring is tilted 27 degrees compared to the rest of the rings and rotates in the opposite direction.
24. A billion planets such as the Earth can fit in the ring.
The new ring is so rarefied that one can fly through it without noticing a single debris, despite the fact that a billion planets such as Earth can fit in the ring. It was discovered by accident in 2009 using an infrared telescope.
25. Many of Saturn's moons are icy
Due to recent discoveries made in 2014, scientists believe that at least some of Saturn's moons may have formed within the rings of this planet. Since many of Saturn's moons are icy and ice particles are the main component of the rings, it has been hypothesized that the moons formed from distant rings that existed before.
For everyone interested in astronomy -.