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The second hypothesis is that the rings were never part of a moon, but are instead left over from the original nebular material from which Saturn formed. [citation needed] A 2007 artist's impression of the aggregates of icy particles that form the 'solid' portions of Saturn's rings. These elongated clumps are continually forming and dispersing.
Saturn and its rings are best seen when the planet is at, or near, opposition, the configuration of a planet when it is at an elongation of 180°, and thus appears opposite the Sun in the sky. A Saturnian opposition occurs every year—approximately every 378 days—and results in the planet appearing at its brightest.
One hypothesis, developed at Oxford University, is that the hexagon forms where there is a steep latitudinal gradient in the speed of the atmospheric winds in Saturn's atmosphere. [22] Similar regular shapes were created in the laboratory when a circular tank of liquid was rotated at different speeds at its centre and periphery.
Ring particles modifying Saturn’s upper atmosphere, changing its composition, scientists say. Skip to main content. Sign in. Mail. 24/7 Help. For premium support please call: 800-290-4726 more ...
Fainter planetary rings can form as a result of meteoroid impacts with moons orbiting around the planet or, in the case of Saturn's E-ring, the ejecta of cryovolcanic material. [ 6 ] [ 7 ] Ring systems may form around centaurs when they are tidally disrupted in a close encounter (within 0.4 to 0.8 times the Roche limit ) with a giant planet.
The ring would have formed along the equator due to Earth’s equatorial bulge, similar to how the rings of Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune are also around each of those planets’ equatorial ...
See more on Saturn's rings: No telescope on this planet would ever have been able to see this. Cassini left Earth in 1997 and, in its nearly two decades of exploration, has sent home remarkable ...
The large set of waves just below center is due to the 6:5 resonance with Janus. The eccentric Titan Ringlet [2] in the Columbo Gap of Saturn's C Ring (center) and the inclined orbits of resonant particles in the bending wave [3] [4] just inside it have apsidal and nodal precessions, respectively, commensurate with Titan's mean motion.