KOMPAS.com – Several planets in the solar system have rings, one of which is Saturn with a very magnificent and bright ring.
In familiar images, Saturn’s rings appear solid, have a flat surface and are almost as wide as the distance between Earth and the Moon.
So why didn’t the spacecraft land on Saturn’s rings to study Saturn and its moons?
Landing on Saturn’s rings, is it possible?
Reporting from NASA, Saturn’s rings do look sturdy, but this ring is actually a collection of debris that is “forced” by gravity to form a tight ring.
Saturn’s rings are made up of billions of tiny pieces of rock and ice. Astronomers believe that these chunks of dust were once larger comets or meteoroids that were crushed by Saturn’s immense gravity before hitting the planet.
Also read: What is the Saturn Opposition Phenomenon?
Most of the rocks and chunks of ice in Saturn’s rings are about the size of a dust grain, but some are almost as big as a house.
Saturn and several of its moons hold all this debris together in a powerful gravitational grip. Saturn’s moons such as Pan, Atlas, and Pandora are called shepherding moons because they are the ones that herd particles into Saturn’s rings.
According to Dr. Marc Rayman, one of the scientists at NASA, we could be very brave and ask a spacecraft to try to land on a big chunk inside Saturn’s rings. However, if other chunks were to fly around, it would be extremely dangerous.
So, Dr. Rayman said it was better not to try to land on Saturn’s rings and continue to study them from a safe distance. The reason is, so far, scientists can learn a lot by studying rings from a distance.
Also read: Study Reveals Saturn’s Atmosphere Keeps Traces of Ancient Storms
Saturn’s rings are very bright
Saturn’s ring system is the only one large enough to be seen through the eyepiece of the average amateur telescope.
Launching BBC Sky at Night Magazine, Saturn’s rings are particularly striking because they are composed of countless highly reflective particles, while the other components of the ring system are narrower and composed of less reflective material.
In addition, Uranus and Neptune are so far from Earth that their narrow rings are only a few arcseconds away in the night sky.
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2023-08-28 11:00:00
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