Video: Has Saturn Had More than One Ring System?
By: SciShow Space
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Data from Cassini shows that Saturn may be losing it’s rings at a rate of 5k to 25k kilograms per second. This phenomenon is called ring rain and at that rate the rings will be gone within a 100 million years.
It’s also theorized that perhaps the rings are less than 100 million years old. This is troublesome because many theories about how they formed require them to be much older.
It’s possible that we’re seeing a cyclical behavior where the larger planets destroy and recreate ring systems.
Even after the rings have disappeared, Saturn will still have some rings that are the result of other processes.
