Saturn’s Moons and Rings Could Be Cosmic Toddlers

0
642

Saturn and Enceladus

It’s easy to imagine the cosmos as ancient and eternal. But the planet and stars have evolved just like everything else, and a new analysis shows that Saturn’s rings and moons may be younger than 100 million years old.

All of the four gas giants in our solar system are orbited by rings of space dust. None are more prominent than the rings around Saturn, the sixth planet from the Sun. But our second-largest neighbor is also orbited by a crowded assortment of 62 moons.

While it’s hard to imagine Saturn without these trademark features, they may be fairly new additions.



Gabriela Mistral Nebula
Mysterious Discovery: Astronomers Manage to Spot ‘God’s Face’ in Cosmos

Using a computer program, investigators at the SETI Institute analyzed Saturn’s gravitational effect on its moons and rings and discovered that they are much younger than previously thought.

“All of their orbits slowly grow due to tidal effects, but at different rates. This results in pairs of moons occasionally entering so-called orbital resonances. These occur when one moon’s orbital period is a simple fraction (for example, one-half or two-thirds) of another moon’s period,” lead author Matja Cuk said in a statement.

“In these special configurations, even small moons with weak gravity can strongly affect each other’s orbits, making them more elongated and tilting them out of their original plane.”

All of this suggests that the objects orbiting Saturn are significantly younger than the planet itself.

“But that fact allows us to use computer simulations to tease out the history of Saturn’s inner moons. Doing so, we find that they were most likely born during the most recent 2% of the planet’s history.”

Solar Storms Ignite X-ray Northern Lights on Jupiter
© NASA. X-RAY: NASA/CXC/UCL/W
Jupiter Shows Off Amazing ‘Northern Lights’ When Swept by Solar Winds

Given that the rings are likely formed from the same rubble that coalesced to form Saturn’s moons, these are likely a similar age.

“Our best guess is that Saturn had a similar collection of moons before, but their orbits were disturbed by a special kind of orbital resonance involving Saturn’s motion around the Sun,” the statement reads. “Eventually, the orbits of neighboring moons crossed, and these objects collided.

“From this rubble, the present set of moons and rings formed.”

100 million years may sounds like a long time, but that means that Saturn’s rings, perhaps the most unique feature of our solar system, is younger than most of life on Earth. The rings and moons would have slowly formed as dinosaurs roamed our own planet, and our own moon is estimated to be 4.53 billion years old.

ATTENTION READERS

We See The World From All Sides and Want YOU To Be Fully Informed
In fact, intentional disinformation is a disgraceful scourge in media today. So to assuage any possible errant incorrect information posted herein, we strongly encourage you to seek corroboration from other non-VT sources before forming an educated opinion.

About VT - Policies & Disclosures - Comment Policy
Due to the nature of uncensored content posted by VT's fully independent international writers, VT cannot guarantee absolute validity. All content is owned by the author exclusively. Expressed opinions are NOT necessarily the views of VT, other authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors, partners, or technicians. Some content may be satirical in nature. All images are the full responsibility of the article author and NOT VT.