{"id":28787,"date":"2022-01-28T10:03:38","date_gmt":"2022-01-28T10:03:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=50061"},"modified":"2022-01-28T10:20:35","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T10:20:35","slug":"a-guide-to-the-rings-of-saturn","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/a-guide-to-the-rings-of-saturn\/","title":{"rendered":"A guide to the rings of Saturn"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Jenny Winder\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 28 January 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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The rings of Saturn are possibly the most iconic feature in the Solar System, and over the decades various planetary probes have revealed a lot about these intriguing structures, including clues as to how they formed, what they\u2019re made of, and how they have changed over time.<\/p>\n

Other planets may have rings, but none as spectacular as Saturn\u2019s<\/a>.\u00a0Galileo was first to observe Saturn\u2019s rings in 1610, but he was unsure if he was seeing two moons or whether Saturn had handles or \u2018ears\u2019. And why did they seem to come and go every year or so?<\/p>\n

\""Cassini\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Cassini captured this image of the moon Daphnis orbiting within the 42km Keeler Gap. The waves in the edges of the gap are caused by the moon\u2019s gravitational pull. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/Space Science Institute<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

In 1656 Christiaan Huygens was first to suggest that Saturn had a ring that was not attached to the planet, and in 1675 Giovanni Domenico Cassini identified the formation as being composed of a series of rings and gaps, identifying the A and B rings and the largest gap, which was named the Cassini Division after him.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was thought the rings were solid or liquid, but in 1859 James Clerk Maxwell proved they were made of particles and were orbiting Saturn independently. <\/span><\/p>\n

The main rings have been named in the order of their discovery; so the C ring was discovered in 1850, the D ring in 1933 and the E ring in 1967. The diffuse Phoebe ring, discovered in 2009, extends an enormous 6\u201316.2 million km from Saturn.<\/p>\n

How many rings does Saturn have?<\/h2>\n
\""A\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n

From inner to outermost, the main structures in Saturn\u2019s rings are:<\/span><\/p>\n