Why in the News?

According to a recent report, Saturn's rings will vanish in just 18 months.

What are Saturn’s Rings?

• Saturn’s ring system is made up of countless small particles, ranging from micrometers to meters in size, that orbit the planet.
• These particles are mostly made of ice, with a smaller amount of rocky debris and dust.
• The rings are named alphabetically in the order they were discovered, with the main rings being A, B, and C.
• The rings are also home to countless icy fragments and are shrouded in a layer of cosmic dust.
• Recent research suggests that these objects might be relatively new in the cosmic timeline, potentially forming a mere 400 million years ago, making them younger than one-tenth of Saturn’s age.

About the Planet Saturn:

• Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the solar system, after Jupiter.
• Saturn is a gas giant composed primarily of hydrogen and helium.
• It has a radius about nine times that of Earth, although it has a low density and is only about 95 times more massive than Earth.
• It has the highest number of satellites or moon, i.e., 146 in the solar system.
• Pioneer 11 and Voyagers 1 and 2 conducted flybys of Saturn, but Cassini extensively orbited the planet, completing 294 orbits from 2004 to 2017.