The rings of Saturn is the most picturesque phenomenon in the solar system.

Who was the first to see the rings of Saturn?

The first rings of Saturn were seen in 1610 by the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei, when he sent a telescope he made to Saturn. Using a stronger telescope, the Dutchman Christian Huygens in 1655 saw what Galileo did not see. He watched around Saturn magnificent rings suspended in space.

As if suspended from a pale yellow-brown planet, the rings shine and shine in the rays of the distant Sun. Like Jupiter, Saturn is a gigantic gas world, covered with a hydrogen atmosphere and ice clouds of ammonia and water ice. The surface of the planet is a liquid metal like hydrogen. The shining rings of Saturn are made up of frozen water - ice.

What are the rings of Saturn made of?

They consist of pieces of ice of different sizes - from cubes that would fit in a glass with a soft drink, to medium-sized icebergs. When viewed from a distance, it seems that pieces of ice rotating around Saturn at a speed of 72,000 kilometers per hour form several wide rings. Before the flights of Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, which explored Saturn, flying past it at close range, many scientists believed that three or four ice rings revolved around Saturn.

The first pictures sent by the spacecraft turned out to be a revelation. Instead of several rings there were several thousand.In some places, deep gaps are visible between the rings, but basically the rings were located very close to each other, like grooves in a CD.

Interesting fact: each ring of Saturn consists of hundreds of thousands of pieces of ice.

The cameras of the Voyagers spacecraft were too far from the rings to get high-quality images of individual ice floes. But from the pictures it becomes clear that the rings are very thin: stars are visible through them. Another surprise. Transparent joints between rings are pieces of ice from one to ninety kilometers across, which are called holes. Not to be confused with the true moons of Saturn. It is believed that the gravitational force of the holes, together with the gravity of the true satellites of Saturn, determines the spatial orientation of the rings.

"Voyagers" not only photographed rings. Special receivers listened to rings on radio frequencies. A crack was caught, which was regarded as discharges of static electricity, a kind of lightning in the rings. These lightnings are invisible, because there is no atmosphere around the rings that would reflect and scatter lightning light.

How did the rings of Saturn form?

Please welcome crazy ideas! One of these ideas is that the rings formed after the collision of Saturn’s satellite with a comet or asteroid and the collapse of the satellite. Another idea is that a comet passing by was torn apart by the giant attraction of Saturn.

Some scientists think that after the collision of Saturn's satellites with small meteorites, new parts are added to the ring.To test these theories, scientists hope one day to touch with their hands the pieces of Saturn's rings, as he had already felt the lunar soil. Although Saturn may seem unique, it is not. Not only he has rings. Jupiter and Uranus are also ringed. True, their rings are thin and dark.