Rapid Fire
Saturn's Rings Will Briefly Disappear in 2025
- 12 Sep 2024
- 2 min read
Recently, NASA confirmed that Saturn's rings will briefly disappear in March 2025 due to their alignment with Earth, making them appear edge-on from earth.
- This optical phenomenon occurs every 13 to 15 years, with the last occurrence in 2009.
- Saturn takes about 29.4 Earth years to complete one orbit around the Sun and is tilted at an angle of 26.73 degrees so rings appear to change orientation. In March 2025, only the edges of the rings will be visible, reflecting minimal light.
Saturn and its Rings
- Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest (after Jupitar) in the solar system.
- It has a ring system, made up of ice and rock, which is the most complex among all planets.
- Saturn's rings span about 282,000 kilometers in width but are incredibly thin, measuring just 10 to 30 meters thick.
- The planet has 7 primary rings. Each ring orbits Saturn at different speeds.
- If laid edge-to-edge, Saturn’s ring system could stretch the distance between Earth and the Moon.
- As per NASA, Saturn has the highest number of moons (146) in the solar system. Like Jupiter, Saturn is a gaseous planet primarily composed of hydrogen and helium.
- Missions to Saturn: Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, and Voyager 2, Cassini spacecraft.
- NASA estimates that Saturn's rings will permanently disappear in the coming 300 million years due to "ring rain," a process that drains water from the rings at a rapid rate.
Read More: Saturn’s Mysterious Rings & Extreme Tilt
