Saturn's Rings Will 'Disappear' by 2025

Daily Mail quoted an announcement from the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) saying that scientists and astronomy enthusiasts only have 18 months left to observe Saturn's rings before they become "invisible" in 2025.

At the time of this event, Saturn's orbit will be tilted towards Earth, making it difficult to see the planet's rings from a frontal perspective.

Saturn's rings are huge structures that extend from 70,000 to 140,000 km in some places. However, the rings are quite thin, only about 10 m thick at some points. Therefore, when observing Saturn directly, they almost disappear when the distance between the two planets is up to 1.2 billion km.

The next 18 months are the last chance to see Saturn's rings before they disappear from view due to the planet's tilt. (Photo: Daily Mail)

Because of its 29-year orbital tilt, Saturn moves farther away from the Sun during this cycle.

Also during this cycle, we can observe Saturn's rings fully again after 13.7 to 15.7 years when the planet tilts back for a short time.

As it stands, Saturn's rings are tilted toward Earth at an angle of 9 degrees, and by 2024 that angle will have decreased to just 3.7 degrees.

The last time this rare astronomical event occurred was in September 2009 and before that in February 1996.

Astronomers won't have a chance to observe Saturn from its current angle until October 2038. But scientists will be able to observe some of the planet's 156 moons.

Earth's transit may make it impossible to see Saturn's rings, but astronomers say it will be a great time to observe some of the planet's 156 moons.

Saturn's rings are composed mainly of ice, with a small amount of rocky dust created in space by asteroid and micrometeorite collisions.

Scientists now believe the rings were formed from the remains of comets, asteroids and moons torn apart by Saturn's intense gravity.

Exactly when these rings formed remains a matter of debate among astronomers, with competing theories suggesting they are as old as the solar system or relatively young.

Although the disappearance of Saturn's rings is only temporary, scientists warn that one day the rings could disappear permanently.

NASA's Cassini probe, which flew through Saturn's rings 22 times before it crashed into the planet in 2017, found that the rings are disappearing at an incredibly fast rate. Cassini found that the rings are losing between 400kg and 2.8 tons of mass per second.

Astronomers are still trying to figure out exactly how fast Saturn's rings are eroding over time, said Dr James O'Donoghue, a planetary scientist at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

In a phenomenon known as "ring rain", radiation from the Sun causes particles in the atmosphere to become electrically charged.

This, in turn, causes the particles to bind to gases in Saturn's atmosphere and be pulled away from the rings by the planet's gravity.

“ Currently, research suggests that the rings will only be a part of Saturn in a few hundred million years ,” added Dr O'Donoghue.

Tra Khanh (Source: Daily Mail)

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