Saturn's rings are shrinking and boffins will use the Webb 'scope to find out why
Astronomers will direct NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to peer at Saturn in an attempt to discern when its iconic rings might vanish.
Saturn is the most recognizable planet in the Solar System thanks to its extensive rings, comprising uncountable billions of ice and rock chunks that circle the planet's equator at diverse speeds. Observations made by NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 probes in 1980 and 1981 hinted that Saturn's rings were eroding. Other spacecraft like Cassini have since made closer observations of the planet, leading to development of a theory that Saturn's gravity and magnetic field attracts matter from its rings.
Boffins believe that over 300 million years, give or take an eon, that process will make Saturn's rings increasingly sparse. "We're still trying to figure out exactly how fast they are eroding," James O'Donoghue, a planetary researcher who will lead new research examining Saturn's loss of rings using the James Webb Space Telescope and the ground-based Keck telescope in Hawaii,"Currently, research suggests the rings will only be part of Saturn for another few hundred million years. This may sound like a long time, but in the history of the universe this is a relatively quick death.
Belgique Dernières Nouvelles, Belgique Actualités
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