It turns out that Saturn’s rings are much younger than the planet itself: how old are they in reality?

The rings of Saturn have become such an integral part of describing the planet that it is difficult to even imagine this gas giant without them. But now scientists believe that these rings did not actually form at the same time as the planet itself and are not as old as Saturn, writes IFLScience.

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Scientists now hypothesize that all planets in the solar system formed from a protoplanetary disk of gas and dust that surrounded the sun about 4.5 billion years ago. Among them, of course, was Saturn. But a new study published in Science Advances shows that the known rings of the gas giant are not as old as the planet, forming just 400 million years ago.

Using archival data from the Cassini spacecraft, scientists were able to determine a more accurate age for Saturn’s rings from the amount of dust accumulated in them. Cosmic dust is scattered throughout the solar system and can cover planets, moons and asteroids. This dust also coats the icy particles that make up Saturn’s rings.

Scientists say these rings are composed almost entirely of pure water ice, meaning they are too pure to be considered ancient. That is, the dust has covered them not for four billion years, but only for the last four hundred million years.

According to scientists, about 1 gram of cosmic dust per 0.09 square meter should accumulate in Saturn’s rings every year. The brightest rings of the gas giant are equivalent to the area of ​​​​about 30 Earths, that is, they occupy an area of ​​​​70 to 140 thousand km. Thus, about 166 billion tons of dust settles on the rings every year. But even this huge amount cannot be compared with the mass of the rings.

Scientists say it’s now clear how old Saturn’s rings are, but it’s still unclear how these structures formed around the gas giant 400 million years ago. Some astronomers suggest that they arose as a result of the disintegration of a huge moon of the planet.

Focus He has already written that astronomers have discovered several dozen new moons around Saturn, the smallest of which has a diameter of only 2.5 km. Saturn is currently the only planet known to have more than 100 moons. Although Jupiter only held the lead for a few months thanks to new moons discovered in this gas giant.

Moreover Focus He had already written that astronomers had discovered a mysterious phenomenon in Saturn’s rings that they could not yet explain.

We remind you that scientists came to the conclusion that Saturn’s rings are not eternal and will perish before the planet itself perish. As already written FocusThe gas giant’s innermost rings are already disappearing, and scientists know approximately when they won’t.