Saturn's rings will disappear this month as scientists reveal reason why
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Getty stock
Saturn's rings will disappear later this month, and there's a very bizarre reason why, which has been explained by scientists.
Taking you way back to science classes at school now, but you may have learnt that Saturn is made up of chunks of ice, as well as rock and dust.
It was astronomer Galileo Galilei who discovered the gigantic rings way back in 1610 and they have been observed and looked at ever since.
At one point, scientists believed that it would take approximately 300 million years for them to disappear completely.
Advert
In fact, data collected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft back in 2017 revealed it's expected to actually take 100 million years for the rings to disappear permanently.
Saturn's rings will melt away thanks to the Sun's UV radiation and other meteoroids colliding with the rings and causing the ice particles to vaporise.
Of course, scientists are predicting that to be far in the future, but from later this month, Saturn's iconic rings will no longer be visible from Earth.
This is set to happen in two weeks on March 23, but what is the actual science behind it?
Saturn's rings can normally be seen with a small telescope, but the planet will soon tilt in a way that means the rings will be out of view.
IFL Science reports the 'angle of tilt' will 'drop to zero when it gets to 23 March, 2025', but fear not, the rings will later return to our view.
Such phenomenon takes place every 29.5 years, which is the time in takes for Saturn to orbit the Sun.
On top of this, scientists remain perplexed by large smudges - dubbed ‘spokes’ by NASA - appearing on Saturn’s rings every 15 years or so.
Experts and scientists are now working hard to garner a deeper understanding of exactly what is going on.
NASA planetary scientist Amy Simon said: “Thanks to Hubble's OPAL program, which is building an archive of data on the outer solar system planets, we will have longer dedicated time to study Saturn's spokes this season than ever before.”
As for seeing Saturn's rings again, scientists say the rings will be at its brightest and best to see from Earth on 21 September, but be warned that they will disappear once more in November.
In other space news, an ex-CIA worker recently revealed that he'd seen 'evidence' of proof of life on Mars.