New research claims that Saturn's rings, while still very young, could disappear in the next few hundred million years.
Published May 25th, 2023 6:36PM EDTIt’s a little strange to think of Saturn without its rings, but scientists have long believed that the planet’s iconic look was something it picked up in just the past few hundred million years. Further, three new studies digging deep into the rings say that they could disappear in a similar timescale, leaving the planet looking blander than it ever has during humanity’s time on Earth.
What they found is that the rings themselves are almost entirely pure ice, with less than a few percent of their mass being made up of non-icy “pollution” that is believed to come from asteroid fragments and micrometeoroids. Calculating how often Saturn’s rings get bombarded was also key to figuring out just how old the rings are, as some scientists argue that the rings have always existed with the planet.
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