The rings are fairly shiny despite being bombarded by dust, indicating that they haven’t been around for very long.
planetary rings
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Quaoar’s Ring Defies Gravity
The dwarf planet’s ring makes astronomers question whether a long-held theory about ring and moon formation needs tweaking.
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Mercury Isn’t Alone in Orbit, and Scientists Don’t Know Why
A cloud of dust traces the innermost planet’s orbital path. By all accounts, it shouldn’t be there.
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Long-Gone Moon Could Explain Birth of Saturn’s Rings
Named Chrysalis, the moon could have disintegrated during a close encounter with the gas giant roughly 100 million years ago.
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Can Uranus’s Rings Reveal the Planet’s Deepest Secrets?
Planetary rings can act as seismometers that respond to changes deep within a planet.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Using Saturn’s Rings as a Seismometer
The Cassini spacecraft observed spiral density waves in the rings of Saturn which can be used to probe its interior structure and rotation.