Why do some planets have rings and how do they form?

With the support of a specialist, we explain why some planets have rings, what they are made of, and how many celestial bodies they contain.

more than 400 years oldthe world, Galileo GalileiNote what until then had been the idiosyncrasy of seeing celestial bodies. The indicated result corresponds to The rings that surround Saturn. The astronomer was able to notice, thanks to a telescope he built himself, that there was something about this giant. At first, the poor clarity of the artifact made Galileo think it was two large satellites, however, time will show that this is something else. Today it is known that Some planets have rings And this fact still raises many questions.

Why do some planets have rings?

Space observation was born out of the intrigue of knowing beyond the sky. After several years of reflection and analysis, scientists have made important advances that help describe this reality that transcends earthly boundaries. By virtue of the images obtained, there is currently an idea of ​​a lot factors that make up the universe. however, The more knowledge, the more questions.

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Some of the questions that can arise naturally derive from the comparison of known stars. In this regard, a question arises that comes from basic curiosity: Why do some planets have rings? To answer this question, we received support from Dr. Frédéric Sylvain Masset, member of the Institute of Physical Sciences of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). That was what he said National Geographic in Spanish.

For any planet there is a radius called Roach radius, in which the moon cannot exist: it will be divided according to tidal forces. When this happens, the small parts end up forming a ring. The four giant planets From the solar system, which has many moons, thus It potentially has loops, or at least parentheses”explains the specialist.

Loops are systems that evolve over time.. The age of those on Saturn, for example, is debated, but it is very likely that they are much younger than in the solar system. They continue to evolve and Somedayon a short time scale before the era of our planetary system, will vanish.

“It is possible that at some point it hosted one of the other great planets in the solar system Amazing rings like the rings of SaturnDr. Frédéric Sylvain Masset adds.

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for his part, Science Times He adds that planetary rings form when comets, asteroids, or moonsdisintegrate. The remnants of these objects are attracted to the gravitational field of the nearby planet and begin to orbit around it.

How many planets have rings and what are they?

For a long time he thought so Saturn It was the only planet with rings. However, other studies have shown that, in fact, All offshore gas giants have them. This is the case, then, Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus.

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