Out of all the planets in the Solar System , the Saturn is the most recognizable planet. It is due to its recognizable rings that make it prominent and you will be able to pick out the planet instantly. However, NASA scientists have claimed that the eye-catching feature of Saturn might be vanishing slowly.
NASA Goddard in a new video has explained that they have always seen the planet Saturn with bold rings and that the rings themselves are fairly young. It has been estimated that the rings are less than about hundred million years old and are a new feature of the planet but they will not be sticking around for too long. The rings are made up of frozen water and that they have been dumping large amounts of ice on the planet constantly.
A report from a leading newspaper has claimed that about 22,000 pounds of material falls from the rings every second and with time the rain will completely bleed the rings to dryness. The particles which make the rings are bombarded by radiations from the Sun and the video has explained with the cloud of plasma from the impacts caused by space rocks. The interactions is the actual cause for the material to be caught between the magnetic field of the planet. It is subsequently pulled down towards the planet due to gravity.
With the help of the figures of the amount of material present in the rings and the data of how much of it is falling, it has been estimated that the rings would be completely gone in 300 million years. The figure means that none of us would be there to see Saturn without the rings. But the fact remains that Saturn is rapidly heading towards a ring free phase of its life and it will be a strange phenomenon for the planet which has been seen with the rings since forever.
Photo Credits: Pixabay
