It is still not clear how the rings were made, or how oldthey are, but it is probable that the ring material needs to be replenished orthe rings will fade over millions of years. The rings of Saturn seem tobe held in place by many tiny moons, called Shepherding moons, which use theirgravity to shape and redistribute the ring material. This image from the Cassiniprobe shows the amazing structure and variation in the rings.Ībove : An eclipse of the Sun – bySaturn! This was taken by the Cassini spacecraft as it passed around the nightside of the planet. The brightness of therings depends on their thickness, and also how big the ring material particlesare. Despitethe fact that the rings are 250,000km across (Ring-tip to ring-tip would stretch from the Earth tothe Moon!) the rings are less than a kilometer thick, and in some places muchthinner. We now know that the rings are made up of billions of particles of iceand rock, varying in size between a few centimeters to a few meters. Saturn has been explored byfour NASA spacecraft since 1979, and close-up views of the rings have shown howcomplex and spectacular they are.
#Galileos viewer archive
How does Saturn appear inyour image taken by MicroObservatory? Can you tell that the planet has rings or, like Galileo, can you imaginethem more as handles, or even a triple planet? To see your image of Saturn moreclearly, you may want to open it in our MicroObservatoryimage processing software.Ībove : Archive MicroObservatory image ofSaturn. Theories of handles and ovals and triple planets lasted another 40years, until Dutch astronomer Christian Huygens finally discovered the rings ofSaturn. How would you describe the planet in his sketch? Although we can easily make out theappearance of a ring, Neither Galileo nor fellow astronomers guessed thatSaturn’s shape was due to a ring. Galileodescribed the appearance as a planet with handles. (Image credit: Albert Van Helden/Science History Publications Ltd.) After a few years, Galileo againstudied Saturn, and in 1616 made this sketch:Ībove : Galileo’s sketch of Saturn from1616. Other astronomers, whosetelescopes were not as good as Galileo’s, saw a single oval planet. To Galileo’s surprise, Saturn wasn’t just oneplanet, but three! A big middle planet with a small planet or moon on each side, and the three were almosttouching. He had alreadyannounced his discovery of the moons of Jupiter, but Saturn, the furthestplanet then known and twice as far away as Jupiter, was even more mysteriousand difficult to understand.
Galileofirst observed Saturn through his telescope in July, 1610.
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