A new series of supercomputer simulations has offered an answer to the mystery of the origins of Saturn's rings—one that involves a massive collision in the recent history of the 4.5 billion-year-old solar system.
involving NASA and Durham and Glasgow universities, Saturn's rings could have evolved from the debris of two progenitor icy moons that collided and shattered only a few hundred million years ago.Debris that didn't end up in the rings could also have contributed to the formation of some of Saturn's present-day moons.
Cassini found that the rings are almost pure ice and have accumulated very little dust pollution since their formation, suggesting that they formed during the most recent few percent of the life of the solar system. Saturn's rings today live close to the planet, within what is known as the Roche limit—the farthest orbit where a planet's gravitational force is powerful enough to disintegrate larger bodies of rock or ice that get any closer. Material orbiting farther out could clump together to form moons.
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