Possibly as Old as Saturn: Study Suggests Rings Could Date Back to Planet’s Formation

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – New research suggests that Saturn’s rings may be older than they look — possibly as old as the planet.

Research conducted by a team led by Japan suggests that Saturn’s rings may not be as young as previously believed, but rather could be as old as 4.5 billion years, aligning them in age with the planet itself.

The scientists surmise Saturn’s rings may be pristine not because they are young but because they are dirt-resistant.

It was widely accepted that Saturn’s rings were relatively young, estimated to be between 100 million and 400 million years old. This estimation was based on data collected over a significant period by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft up until its mission ended in 2017.

Surprisingly, observations by Cassini indicated that there was no noticeable darkening of the rings caused by small micrometeoroids – tiny particles of space rock. This lack of darkening led scientists to reconsider their initial assumption that the rings formed relatively recently compared to the planet.

Through computer modeling, the Institute of Science Tokyo’s Ryuki Hyodo and his team demonstrated that micrometeoroids vaporize once slamming into the rings, with little if any dark and dirty residue left behind. They found that the resulting charged particles get sucked toward Saturn or out into space, keeping the rings spotless and challenging the baby rings theory. Their results appear in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Hyodo said it’s possible Saturn’s rings could be somewhere between the two extreme ages — around the halfway mark of 2.25 billion years old. But the solar system was much more chaotic during its formative years with large planetary-type objects migrating and interacting all over the place, just the sort of scenario that would be conducive to producing Saturn’s rings.

“Considering the solar system’s evolutionary history, it’s more likely that the rings formed closer to” Saturn’s earliest times, he said in an email.

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