Jakarta –
Saturn is known as a planet that has beautiful rings. Saturn’s rings were first observed by Galileo Galilei in 1610 using a simple telescope.
However, it is rumored that the rings surrounding Saturn will “disappear” in 2025. Why is this possible and what are the facts?
Is it true that Saturn’s rings will disappear?
Saturn’s rings will indeed appear to disappear from view in 2025. This phenomenon is caused by the rotation of Saturn on its axis.
However, Saturn won’t actually lose its rings in 2025. It’s just that the rings will appear thinner, so they won’t be visible to Earth’s inhabitants. This was revealed by NASA to CBS News, quoted on Tuesday (14/11/2023.)
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center senior scientist, Amy Simon said, Saturn’s rings will only be slightly visible a few months before and after this phenomenon occurs. If you want to see the appearance of Saturn’s rings on various dates, according to him, people can use the PDS rings node via the following link https://pds-rings.seti.org/tools/viewer3_sat.shtml.
Professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Southern California, Vahe Perroomian, explained to CBS News that the appearance of Saturn’s rings from Earth can change over time because Saturn rotates on an axis tilted at 26.7 degrees.
Occurs once every 13-15 years
Once every 13 to 15 years, Earth sees a very thin view of Saturn’s rings. According to Peroomian, when this phenomenon occurs, the ring is so difficult to observe that it is basically invisible.
“The ring reflects very little light and is very difficult to see, so it is basically invisible,” Peroomian said.
The last time Saturn’s rings appeared to disappear was in 2009 and will precisely repeat itself on March 23, 2025, he said.
“Galileo Galilei was the first person to see Saturn through a telescope, in the early 1610s,” Perroomian said.
“His telescopes could not reveal the rings, and Christiaan Huygens finally realized in 1655 that Saturn had rings or rings detached from the planet,” he added.
Since the discovery, scientists have studied the rings. NASA’s Cassini-Huygens mission has also confirmed that Saturn’s rings likely formed about 100 million years ago. According to Peroomian, this is relatively new for space.
He added, basically even a small telescope can provide an appearance of Saturn’s rings if they don’t appear thin.
“Students in my astronomy class at USC looked at Saturn through telescopes last week and the rings were clearly visible,” Peroomian said.
After the phenomenon of Saturn’s rings disappears in 2025, the rings will be visible again a few months later.
Watch the video “Saturn’s rings are predicted to disappear, how come?”
(nah/nwk)
2023-11-14 04:00:20
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