Cassini reveals new details on Saturn’s rings

Washington: The rings of Saturn may have formed much later than the planet itself, according to a new analysis of gravity science data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. The findings, led by scientists from Rome’s Sapienza University, indicate that Saturn’s rings formed between 10 million and 100 million years ago. From our planet’s perspective, that means Saturn’s rings may have formed during the age of dinosaurs.

Saturn formed 4.5 billion years ago, in the early years of our solar system. There have been clues that its ring system is a young upstart that attached to Saturn years afterward. But how long afterward? To figure out the age of the rings, scientists needed to measure the mass of the rings, or how much material they hold. Radio signals sent to Cassini from the antennas of NASA’s Deep Space Network and the European Space Agency relayed the spacecraft’s velocity and acceleration. Once scientists knew how much gravity was pulling on Cassini, causing it to accelerate — down to a fraction of a millimeter per second — they could determine how massive the planet is and how massive the rings are. (IANS)

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