Put a ring on it!! 🪐

When I think of rings, the first planet that comes to mind is Saturn. Saturn has the most impressive rings out of all the Jovian planets in our solar system. (In fact, Saturn’s rings are so prominent that I sometimes forget that other Jovian planets also have rings!!)

First, let’s talk about the properties of rings that all Jovian planets share. All rings lie in the equatorial plane of the planet (just like moons do!), and the ring particles have circular orbits with some small variations in tilts. Rings are made of particles of all sizes, that astronomers think comes from “moonlets” (a tiny moon) and random collisions that chip off particles from those. Those particles get captured by planets’ tidal and gravitational forces. Something cool to note is that all rings lie within 2-3 planetary radii of the planet they belong to, which can be explained by gravitational forces holding them there!

Up-close and personal view of Saturn’s rings!! (Photo credit: Getty)

Saturn’s rings are huge (spanning 270,000 km in diameter!! wow!), given that the planet itself is one of the largest in our solar system. However, the rings are only 10-ish meters tall. In fact, if we look at Saturn straight in line with the rings, we can barely see them. The reason for how thin Saturn’s rings are is because the ring particles will collide in their orbits. Don’t worry, these collisions are pretty gentle! These particles all orbit at around the same speed in the same direction. Collisions of particles make the two particles change their speed/locations into their average, and continual collisions will keep all the particles in the same plane. The rings are actually shaped with the help of shepherd moons, which are tiny objects that keep the particles contained and forms the shape of the rings we know and love. 🪐 ❤