It would be ironic to think that the universe we know today will never change. Part of the essence of that great cosmos is change, transformation. At the same time that you are reading this article, billions of light-years away, stars are in the midst of constant evolution. Among them is Saturn, that brilliant giant that at this precise moment is causing a shower of 10,000 kilograms of Saturn’s rings per second.
The possibility that you are part of the last generations of humans who met Saturn with rings is very real, since the planet could fill an Olympic swimming pool in half an hour with the disintegrating remains of its rings. But, first let’s take a closer look at the rings of this planet.
How many rings does Saturn have?
Saturn’s fascinating rings are actually a system of 10 planetary rings. They all surround the planet and were first observed about 400 years ago by Galileo Galilei. Over time, it has been possible to determine an approximate thickness and position of each of the rings with respect to the center of Saturn, as well as the presence of divisions or spaces between them.
List of Rings and divisions of Saturn:
The fading of Saturn’s rings
Beyond their thickness and distance from the center of the planet, Saturn’s rings have a special structure that influences their disappearance. In essence, the rings are made up of chunks of ice and rock, materials that are constantly colliding with other elements in the universe.
Either by ultraviolet radiation from the Sun or by tiny asteroids colliding with the rings, Saturn’s icy particles vaporize and form water molecules that interact with Saturn’s magnetic field. All of this culminates in molecules burning up and disappearing.
POT
The rain caused by Saturn’s rings has been known since 1980, exactly when the Voyager mission launched by NASA discovered mysterious dark bands trapped in the planet’s magnetic field. Researchers have since estimated that it would take about 300 million years for the rings to disappear completely, but the latest observations launched a new forecast.
According to the 2017 NASA Cassini spacecraft dive, the amount of rain that Saturn’s rings cause is stronger than previously thought. With this new observation, the scientists calculate that the rings have 100 million years left to live.
The latent transformation of the Universe
By the time Saturn breaks away from its rings we won’t be here to see it, but that’s not a surprise. The planet -which was born about 4.5 billion years ago- did not have its iconic rings, they will be approximately between 100 and 200 million years oldsome of them are younger than the dinosaurs themselves.
Qaz
Thinking about it in this sense, this humanity is lucky to have witnessed the existence of these wonderful earrings and to have the ability to study them thoroughly. In a universe that is changing daily, it is a pleasure to discover its evolution and to come to know that at this very moment there is something out there that will not be the same way it was yesterday.
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