Saturn’s Destroyed Moon and the New Rings

The “king of the moons”, so we could define Saturn. Yes, because if the planet Earth has only one satellite, Mars two, Venus zero, Saturn good 82 according to NASA, effectively defeating the nearby giant Jupiter (with its 79 moons). Not only beautiful mane, Saturn it is also famous for its spectacular rings.

The latter, however, came later. In the beginning Saturn, which has 4.5 billion for years or so it was not equipped with these fascinating structures. The rings have formed indicatively, hundred million years ago. And it’s this late training that scientists have been wondering for years.

All Chrysalis’ fault

In a paper published Sept. 15 in Science, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) reported that the relatively recent formation of Saturn’s young rings can be traced back to the destruction of aold moon orbiting the gas giant. The researchers named this moon that was destroyed “doll” (Doll).

It appears that Chrysalis had a mass equal to that of Iapetus, Saturn’s third largest moon. About 150 million years ago, the study authors suggest, doll it came perilously close to Saturn and orbited the gas giant for several billion years, until it became unstable. This dangerous approach led to his devastation. Most of its remains rained down close to the planet, while some fragments shattered in orbit, transform in rings.

“Like a butterfly’s pupa, this satellite was inactive for a long time and then suddenly activated, revealing the rings,” said lead author Jack Wisdom, a professor of planetary science at MIT.

Cassini puts a hand in it

Fundamental to this research work were the measurements of Saturn made by the Cassini probe – a collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian. Among the important planetary information it returns, the spacecraft has measured Saturn’s inertial motion, showing that the planet was once in resonance with Neptune, but not anymore. He also thought that Titanthe moon larger than Saturn, moving away from its planet, but much faster than expected: 11 centimeters per year.

According to scientists, Titan’s rapid migration could alsotendency off the planet’s axis, in fact, as the satellites move away, Saturn tilts more and more. Further studies are awaited to understand what will be the fate of this beautiful planet.

Research into the origin of Saturn’s rings is available in Science

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