Researchers using data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft have found that Saturn’s rings formed around 4.4 billion years ago, shortly after the planet itself took shape. The origin of Saturn’s ring system remains hotly debated, with some researchers arguing that it’s a relatively young structure and others holding that it coalesced long ago, at roughly the same time as the gas giant’s many satellites. The new study, using data gathered by NASA’s Saturn‐orbiting Cassini spacecraft, strongly supports the latter scenario, researchers said. Cassini’s measurements suggest that “the main rings would be extremely old, rather than hundreds of millions of years old,” said Mr Sascha Kempf, of the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Source: Deccan Herald

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