Rings on Saturn??

Why do the rings on Saturn look so perfect ie have perfect looking gaps
around them.
How does this actually happen or work?????????

Did you ever throw a ripe tomato into a large fan?
Record it with high speed camera and then watch it in slow motion.

"Jo & MickD" wrote in message
...
Why do the rings on Saturn look so perfect ie have perfect looking gaps
around them.
How does this actually happen or work?????????




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"Jo & MickD" wrote in message ...
Why do the rings on Saturn look so perfect ie have perfect looking gaps
around them.
How does this actually happen or work?????????

Gravitational resonance with Saturn's other moons is one of the
primary factors. So something breaks up in Saturn's orbit. For
millions of years you have just a nebulous debris ring. Over time,
debris is tugged on by Saturn's moons, which orbit it in regular
intervals. Over time, the debris particles reach equilibrium orbits
due to this tugging as well as impacts with other debris.

The rings are a result of millions of years this gravitational
tugging, turning chaos slowly into order (giving up potential energy
in the process (i.e. going into lower orbits and sapping some of the
kinetic energy of Saturn's moons), so as not to violate the laws of
thermodynamics).

Hope that helps,
Dave

"David Harper" wrote in message
om...
"Jo & MickD" wrote in message
...
Why do the rings on Saturn look so perfect ie have perfect looking gaps
around them.
How does this actually happen or work?????????

Gravitational resonance with Saturn's other moons is one of the
primary factors. So something breaks up in Saturn's orbit. For
millions of years you have just a nebulous debris ring. Over time,
debris is tugged on by Saturn's moons, which orbit it in regular
intervals. Over time, the debris particles reach equilibrium orbits
due to this tugging as well as impacts with other debris.


Has Saturn always had rings, or do we just live in a period when something
"broke up" a few million years ago?

Are Saturn's rings slowly depleting due to collisions and radiation
pressure?

Could all the gas giants possess massive rings from time to time?

Roger Stokes wrote:

"David Harper" wrote in message
om...
"Jo & MickD" wrote in message
...
Why do the rings on Saturn look so perfect ie have perfect looking gaps
around them.
How does this actually happen or work?????????

Gravitational resonance with Saturn's other moons is one of the
primary factors. So something breaks up in Saturn's orbit. For
millions of years you have just a nebulous debris ring. Over time,
debris is tugged on by Saturn's moons, which orbit it in regular
intervals. Over time, the debris particles reach equilibrium orbits
due to this tugging as well as impacts with other debris.


Has Saturn always had rings, or do we just live in a period when something
"broke up" a few million years ago?

Are Saturn's rings slowly depleting due to collisions and radiation
pressure?

Could all the gas giants possess massive rings from time to time?

All the gas giants do have rings, they just vary in scope.

"David Harper" a écrit dans le message de
om...
"Jo & MickD" wrote in message
...
Why do the rings on Saturn look so perfect ie have perfect looking gaps
around them.
How does this actually happen or work?????????

Gravitational resonance with Saturn's other moons is one of the
primary factors. So something breaks up in Saturn's orbit. For
millions of years you have just a nebulous debris ring. Over time,
debris is tugged on by Saturn's moons, which orbit it in regular
intervals. Over time, the debris particles reach equilibrium orbits
due to this tugging as well as impacts with other debris.

Yes. Exactly.

To do all that you need energy.

You have to position exactly your moons at the right places.

Then, they have to shepherd the new material into the rings.

There is a dark material circulating across the whole
system, in the surface of the first satellite the machine
passed by, and in the rings too. Titan has an extended
atmosphere that could be the source of the injected material.

This material is injected into the rings by the moons

How come that they are at the right place?

The deeper you look, the deeper the explanations look strange.

Saturn. We know nothing yet...


The rings are a result of millions of years this gravitational
tugging, turning chaos slowly into order (giving up potential energy
in the process (i.e. going into lower orbits and sapping some of the
kinetic energy of Saturn's moons), so as not to violate the laws of
thermodynamics).

I know of another proces that can turn chaos into order.

Those patterns in the rings... Fascinating isn't it?

They look like bar-codes.

"Roger Stokes" wrote in message ...
"David Harper" wrote in message
om...
"Jo & MickD" wrote in message
...
Why do the rings on Saturn look so perfect ie have perfect looking gaps
around them.
How does this actually happen or work?????????

Gravitational resonance with Saturn's other moons is one of the
primary factors. So something breaks up in Saturn's orbit. For
millions of years you have just a nebulous debris ring. Over time,
debris is tugged on by Saturn's moons, which orbit it in regular
intervals. Over time, the debris particles reach equilibrium orbits
due to this tugging as well as impacts with other debris.


Has Saturn always had rings, or do we just live in a period when something
"broke up" a few million years ago?

Good question. Short answer: no. To have always had rings, it would
need a constant supply of material. So we're kinda seeing it at one
of it's "finest mega-eons", or whatever. The rings will still be
there for millions of years to come, maybe tens of millions, maybe
hundreds. I'm not sure how fast they're decaying, other than it's
very, very slow.

Are Saturn's rings slowly depleting due to collisions and radiation
pressure?

Good question again. Disclaimer: I'm not 100% sure. Collisions
might be a small part. Radiation "pressure" I wouldn't think would be
a factor, since on one side of the rings radiation is against it, and
as the debris in the rings orbits to the other side, radiation is
helping (adding kinetic energy). I would guess gravitational decay
and small deviations from other gravitational bodies (Jupiter,
interactions between it's own moons, etc) are probably bigger factors.

Could all the gas giants possess massive rings from time to time?

Probably, yes. Mars probably could too, although they wouldn't be as
spectacular since there's not any moons large enough to induce
gravitational resonance. Earth probably couldn't since the moon is so
dang big by comparison (it would tug TOO hard on one side and the
rings probably wouldn't be too stable). Also, Mars' gravity is really
small by comparison to gas giants, so it would have to be very unique
circumstances for its gravity to grab something and rip it up into
ring material.

Dave

"Ian Stirling" wrote in message
...

All the gas giants do have rings, they just vary in scope.

You sure? I know Jupiter does and I think Neptune, but Uranus (or is it the
other way around there...)

In article ,
Greg D. Moore \(Strider\) wrote:
All the gas giants do have rings, they just vary in scope.

You sure? I know Jupiter does and I think Neptune, but Uranus (or is it the
other way around there...)

Yes, they all do. Jupiter's rings are small and thin, and Uranus's and
Neptune's are thin and very dark, but they've all got 'em.
--
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