When we think of Saturn , the sixth planet in our Solar System , it is unthinkable to imagine it without its rings. The first time they were observed was in July 1610 by the famous Galileo Galilei . However, contrary to what was thought, these characteristic accessories have not always been there.
As detailed in an article in the journal Science, the annual meeting of the American Geophysics Union (AGU) has reported that, thanks to the latest observations from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, it has been discovered that this planetary ring system it did not exist until a few hundred million years. Taking into account that the universe is approximately 13.5 billion years old, the age of the rings can be considered extremely young: practically a newborn in our Solar System.
To give us an idea, if Galileo had existed during the age of the dinosaurs and looked at the sky through his telescope, he could not have distinguished Saturn as we know it today .
Thanks to Cassini, we can assure you that the rings did not exist in the early days of the Solar System 4.5 billion years ago , as scientists believed.
Two pieces of evidence have supported this claim.
The main proof, and the one that has been announced so far, comes from the mass of the rings . Due to the opaque and dense appearance that the images of Saturn’s primary ring showed, it was speculated that these had been created next to the planet. However, having a lower weight than originally estimated, his age is also lower than previously thought.
When Cassini began to breach the gap between Saturn and its rings during its last voyages, the team was able to distinguish the gravitational pull of the rings and therefore their mass. Luciano Iess , a planetary scientist at the Sapienza University of Rome assures that, if the theories relating mass to age are correct, “this is a clear indication that the rings did not form together with Saturn.
A phenomenon that remains unanswered
Since Christiaan Huygens discovered in 1655 that there were not three bodies but four that surrounded Saturn , attempts have been made to find an explanation of how these rings were formed. However, the discussion continues.
Some of the hypotheses that are considered are from the possibility that a comet or asteroid hit an icy moon, throwing its remains towards the orbit of Saturn; to the idea that they were created from the remains of planets like Pluto.
Scientists argue that the Cassini results actually verify that the rings are young, perhaps less than 200 million years old . But for the moment, they have only begun to study how the collision could have occurred forming rings.
Jeff Cuzzi , a ring specialist at NASA’s Ames Research, says that “part of the reluctance for everyone to jump off this bridge into the unknown is that we haven’t had any kind of feasible explanation.” According to him, it ‘s time for new ideas. , “the solar system could be full of surprises like this.”
Image: NASA / JPL
