It can be traced back to Galileo in17th century. When he looked at Saturn with a telescope, he found something beside Saturn, as if Saturn had ears. At that time, he thought it was a satellite of Saturn. Half a century later, Huygens used a sophisticated telescope to see what was next to Saturn "surrounded by rings, thin and flat, not touching Saturn, but intersecting the ecliptic". Later, astronomer Cassini thought that this ring might be a concentric ring like an iron ring. In 1785, Laplace pointed out that the distance between each part of the ring and Saturn's center is different, so the degree of attraction to Saturn's gravitational field is different; Sooner or later, this difference will pull the rings apart and form a series of thin rings.
In the 20th century, research took a big step forward. 1980 Voyager probe 1 Close observation of Saturn's rings. It is found that Saturn is much more complicated than previously thought. This ring looks like a quarry at close range, with large and small stones piled together and ice in the middle. Although it is a concentric ring from a distance, it is not a complete ring when you look closely, and there are some fractures, serrations, radiations and distortions in the middle.
So, what forces bring so many substances together? Voyager 1 discovered that there is a guardian satellite on the inner and outer sides of the F ring, and there is also a satellite in the outer orbit of the A ring. Based on this, scientists speculate that it is these small celestial bodies in key positions that prevent the material in Saturn's rings from spreading outward. But this is just a guess, and there is not enough evidence.
In order to further solve this problem, in 2005, NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency jointly launched the Cassini interstellar probe to observe Saturn at close range. According to the data collected by Cassini, there are not only several previously discovered small satellites in Saturn's rings, but also a series of small satellites. Even a Saturn ring may have tens of millions of small satellites. According to scientists' analysis, Saturn's rings may be composed of the remains of some ancient celestial bodies.
So far, there is no conclusion about Saturn's rings, but exploration and research have not stopped. I believe that one day, people will understand the true face of Saturn's beautiful aura.
Science lovers report for duty.
Saturn's rings are invisible to the naked eye. /kloc-in the 0/7th century, when my eldest brother and I first started to observe Saturn through a telescope, we uttered an exclamation: "My God! This planet has ears. " This is how Saturn's beautiful rings of light were discovered.
Saturn's rings are mostly composed of water (ice), with a small amount of rocks and dust. As big as a house and as small as a grain of rice, they revolve around Saturn together. You can think of Saturn's rings as hundreds of millions of satellites of Saturn.
Saturn's rings are huge, with a diameter of over 200,000 kilometers, which is eight times the diameter of Saturn. But its thickness is so small that the thickest point is only 150 km, so that when we observe Saturn's ring with astronomical telescope, we can see the shining stars behind it. If the angle is right, you can find out how thin it is.
The origin of Saturn's rings is still inconclusive. I personally support the statement that the ring is composed of one (or more) disintegrated satellites and ejections from other satellites. Namely:
First of all, among Saturn's many satellites, there was once a small satellite rich in water. During its operation, it was subjected to the multi-directional gravity of Saturn inside and other satellites outside, and finally disintegrated and fractured. Under the action of centrifugal force, other satellites and Saturn's gravity, the fragments lay flat and could not be gathered again, thus forming a ring.
Second, there are many satellites in Saturn's system, and the gravity environment is complex, which makes Saturn's satellites always in irregular gravity. Their interior is constantly heated by deformation and friction, and finally a violent geyser eruption (mainly water) is formed. Because the mass of these satellites is too small, the velocity of ejecta can easily reach the escape velocity, so they leave the satellites and revolve around Saturn.
These are my thoughts on the origin of Saturn's rings. Put some pictures of rings to raise your eyes ~
The appearance of the halo was disturbed by the gravity of the satellite.
If the earth had a ring, how beautiful it would be.
I'm Zhang Beihai, a science lover. I don't list formulas or pile up data. I open my brain to see the world, so that science is no longer boring. Welcome to click on the avatar, browse more articles and ask questions.
The question is how old your child is now. If he is only five or six years old, you might as well make up a fairy tale to share happiness with him:
Saturn, for example, is the most beautiful star among all the planets. It likes to run around with a halo because it is afraid that its beautiful hat will be stolen by Mars and the earth.
If your child is eight or nine years old, you must have learned Pinyin at this age. You might as well buy a pinyin version of "100 thousand why?" Give it to him, and you can spell Saturn-related content with him according to Pinyin, which will not only get the learning effect, but also cultivate children's interest in learning.
However, if your child is only under three years old, I suggest you teach him to sing children's songs and tell him more fairy tales. Don't instill something that children can't understand and accept because of parents' own interests, because such education will only be counterproductive and increase children's confusion. Knowledge should be accumulated step by step, not overnight.
Hello! I'm glad to answer your question.
Saturn's peculiar planetary ring is 300,000 kilometers wide, but its average thickness is only 10 meter. How is it formed?
About 1 100 million years ago, when the earth was still ruled by dinosaurs, a satellite of Saturn with a diameter of about 400 kilometers and almost all composed of ice stones met with an ill-fated moment. After hundreds of millions of years of evolution, because it is too close to Saturn, it is finally close to the moment when it can't resist Saturn's huge gravity, that is, it exceeds the so-called Roche limit, and the gravity is big enough to tear the cold satellite. Let it fall apart and finally crush hundreds of millions of ice particles. Due to the huge inertial centrifugal force, the ice-breaking particles are evenly scattered in the orbit around Saturn in a few days, forming a huge Saturn ring, which has become the most beautiful and spectacular landmark in the solar system. Saturn's rings were born.
With the passage of time, Saturn's rings are also changing now. Saturn's strong gravitational field keeps it in a nearly perfect circle. The collision inside Saturn's rings scattered them. The huge halo is even larger than Jupiter's diameter, but the average thickness is only 10 meter. In other words, the strange Saturn ring is a giant planetary ring with a width of 300,000 kilometers and a thickness of only 10 meter.
In Saturn's rings, some huge ice cubes will clear the open area when they move around Saturn, which makes the whole ring initially become multiple rings. In some places, ice crystal particles are pulled up by the gravity of other satellites, forming thin peaks with a height of more than 2 kilometers. Sunlight shines down, forming a beautiful projection and becoming a beautiful necklace, as bright as a diamond in the solar system. In Saturn, a world of rocks and ice, there are many earth-shaking changes.
Related content can be seen in the video: How is Saturn's peculiar planetary ring formed, 300,000 kilometers wide, but the average thickness is only 10 meter?
There are still many doubts and controversies about the origin of Saturn's rings, so there is no perfect theory to explain it accurately. This is not surprising, after all, humans still lack understanding of the details of Saturn's rings.
According to different methods and theories, astronomers have different judgments on the age of Saturn's rings. There are two main theories about the formation of Saturn's rings. One thought that Saturn's ring was originally a satellite of Saturn, but it fell into the range of roche limit due to the attenuation of its orbit, and was torn by tidal force because the materials that made up the satellite were not tight enough. This theory also evolved into the idea that an asteroid or comet crashed into a satellite and disintegrated. Another theory holds that Saturn's rings are not torn satellites, but are directly formed by protons that form Saturn.
However, Cassini data show that Saturn's rings may be younger (at least some of them) and may even have been formed in the past 65438+ 10 billion years. This is based on a new dynamic evolution model of low mass parameter combination ring and the measurement of interplanetary dust flow. This method thinks that with the passage of time, the falling dust will lead to the decrease of the brightness of the halo. In the past, the annual rings should be bigger than they are now, because they keep losing matter. Under the influence of Saturn's magnetic field, the materials in Saturn's rings fall to Saturn in the form of rain. According to the current estimated loss rate, it is estimated that Saturn's rings will disappear completely within 1 100 million years.
Only she likes hula hoops. What is the reason?
Saturn's halo is very eye-catching, but how did it come from? In fact, Saturn's rings are very small fragments, about 7 to 9 centimeters. Then why is it a small clip? This is related to the formation of Saturn's rings.
In fact, in the early days of Saturn, there were no rings, only many moons. By chance, a comet flew over Saturn's system. Hit a satellite orbiting Saturn. The satellite was hit by a comet and headed for Saturn. Due to Saturn's great gravity, Saturn's moon was torn apart. It took hundreds of millions of years for the torn fragments to form Saturn's rings.
Besides stones, they are still stones.
Because it is afraid that other stars will disturb it and get a protective cover.
Saturn-Roche blades keep the gravity around Saturn and keep the rock particles.
Inner ring-The inner ring consists of rock particles that never formed the moon.
Outer ring-The outer ring is caused by the geyser at Saturn's South Pole.
Why does Saturn have a halo? The answer is related to Roche leaves named after French astronomers. When a planet orbits a star (such as our sun) and the planet has its own orbiting objects (such as the moon), gravity will be generated between these objects. Around the earth, orbiting rocks form the moon. On Saturn, rocks never merge and still move in orbit.
Interestingly, due to the height limitation of Roche's valve, the thickness of the ring is only a few miles. Dr Steve Malan, a famous astronomer, said that Galileo was the first person to discover these rings, but he could not explain them. Today, the perspective of the Hubble Space Telescope reveals a huge area, which extends widely around the earth. There is also a unique outer ring, which is attributed to the geysers emitted by the cold Antarctic region on Saturn, leaving a more unique trace.