Researchers say the loss of a large moon could help explain both the origin of Saturn’s rings and the planet’s unusual tilt.
The rings of Saturn are lovely to look at but a colossal headache to explain. Now, planetary scientists have come up with a new theory about their origin. About 160 million years ago, they say, an icy moon was ripped apart when its orbit brought it too close to the planet. The lost moon, which they call Chrysalis, may also help explain the evolution of Saturn’s oddly tilted axis of rotation.
Scientists have long debated whether Saturn’s rings are billions of years old—as ancient as the Solar System itself—or perhaps just 100 million years old or so. Data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, whichafter threading the gap between the rings and Saturn’s cloud tops, made a strong case for the youthful view.
Instead, Wisdom and his colleagues believe Saturn acquired its tilt because of a peculiar synchronicity: the precession of Saturn’s spin axis—the way it wobbles like a top with a particular rhythm—is suspiciously in tune with a precession in Neptune’s orbit. If Saturn and Neptune were trapped in this resonance, Saturn’s tilt would be “kind of vulnerable to other forces that could cause it to change,” says Rola Dbouk, an MIT graduate student in planetary science.
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