Age Of Saturn’s Rings

A new study has shed light on the age of Saturn’s rings which was thought to be of younger origin until now.

About the Study

Published In: The new findings were published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Conducted By: The research is conducted by scientists at the Institute of Science Tokyo and the Paris Institute of Planetary Physics
Objective: To test the hypothesis that Saturn’s Rings are relatively of younger origin ie (between 100-400 million years ago) based on a popular interpretation of the Cassini data
Method: A 3D computer model has been developed to simulate crashes between micrometeoroids and Saturn’s rings at speeds of about 67,100 mph (108,000 km/h).
Finding:
- Age of Saturn Rings: Saturn’s rings are likely to be of ancient origin ie. (about 4.5 billion to 4 billion years old) during the era called the Late Heavy Bombardment
- Vapourisation: The speedy collisions between micrometeoroids and saturn’s rings generates temperatures of more than 9,725oC leading the micrometeoroids to vaporize and produce electrically charged ions and microscopic particles.
- Clean Rings: These charged particles mostly either collide with Saturn, escape its gravitational pull, or get dragged into the planet’s atmosphere.
  - Therefore, very little of this material appeared to pollute the rings, leaving them relatively clean.
Importance:
- Other Planetary Rings: To study and explain the diverse ring systems of our solar system’s four gas giants
- To Study the Evolution of Enceladus: To investigate how icy grains from the plumes of Enceladus affect the ring’s composition playing a major role in determining the ring’s age.
  - Enceladus: It is the geologically active moon of Saturn and is a top-priority target to study habitability and astrobiology due to active plume activity from its subsurface ocean

NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft

Conducted By: Cassini probe is a joint endeavor of NASA, ESA (the European Space Agency), and the Italian space agency (ASI)
A Mission to Saturn: Cassini was a sophisticated robotic spacecraft sent to study Saturn in 2004 and its complex system of rings and moons.
- ESA’s Huygens probe parachuted to Titan, making the first landing on a moon in the outer solar system
Objectives:
- Saturn: To study cloud properties and atmospheric composition, winds and temperatures, internal structure and rotation, ionosphere, origin, and evolution
- Rings: To observe their structure and composition, dynamical processes, interrelation of rings and satellites, dust and micrometeoroid environment
- Titan: To study abundances of atmospheric constituents, distribution of trace gases and aerosols, winds and temperatures, composition and state of the surface, and upper atmosphere
- Icy Satellite: To determine their characteristics and geological histories; study mechanisms of surface modification, surface composition and distribution, overall composition and internal structure, and their interactions with Saturn’s magnetosphere
- Saturn’s Magnetosphere: To study its structure and electric currents; composition, sources, and sinks of particles within it; dynamics; interaction with the solar wind, satellites, and rings.
Key Findings:
- Clean Rings: Saturn’s rings appeared relatively bright and clean with minimal accumulation of space dust particles
- Enceladus Moon: Enceladus possesses a global ocean of liquid water, likely with hydrothermal activity on the seafloor
- Icy plumes: They were found to be abundant in water molecules leaking from Enceladus’s southern hemisphere.
- Saturn’s rings were found to be active and dynamic
- Titan Moon: It has rain, rivers, lakes, and seas; it is shrouded in a thick, nitrogen-rich atmosphere that might be similar to what Earth’s was like long ago

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