MV Astronomy Club

give me a ring by carol higgins

Last month the big astronomy news was the close encounter of Jupiter and Saturn. It was a view not seen from Earth since the year 1226, and again in 1623 when astronomer Galileo was alive. Although the planets seemed to be next to each other, they were actually over 450 million miles apart. Each has unique features, but they share a trait that often goes unnoticed. They both have rings! But wait, there’s more! All four planets in our outer solar system have rings, and this month we take a look at those distant worlds: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Without a doubt, Saturn is the king of the rings. A stunning sight through a telescope, reflected sunlight makes its huge rings shine so bright they can be seen with binoculars (a tripod helps). They are about 240,000 miles wide, the same distance between Earth and our Moon. Surprisingly they are only about 30 to 300 feet thick.

Composed mainly of icy debris and rocks ranging from tiny particles to the size of a house, there are seven major rings containing hundreds of smaller bands. Gaps separate them, many created by the orbit of some of Saturn’s 82 moons. The most striking is the Cassini division, a region of empty space carved out by the moon Mimas.

Next is Jupiter, a gas giant. Although it had been observed for thousands of years, it wasn’t until March 1979 that we suspected it has rings. That’s when NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft flew by and took images with the planet backlit by the Sun. Researchers The image shows Saturn and its rings (has the found compelling evidence of a dark Cassini division too, another Hubble shot). thin, faint ring that circled the Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Erich Karkoschka planet. We finally got our best up-close look when the Galileo Hanny’s Voorwerp. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, W. Keel, Galaxy Zoo Team position. The inner rings are dark gray, spacecraft arrived in December 1995 to but the two outer rings are colorful; one study Jupiter. It observed three rings, and is reddish, the other bright blue. since then we learned there are four. Our final ringed planet is Neptune, an-

The brightest is the Main Ring which other ice giant. It has 14 moons, including begins about 30,000 miles above the one named Triton that blasts icy geysers upper atmosphere. The outer Gossamer into space. Five narrow rings contain rings extend almost 140,000 miles. But small, dusty debris and some rocks, and bright is a relative term. All are comprised the mainly dark material makes the rings of small bits of dark dust that researchers difficult to see. One of the interesting think were created when meteoroids im- and unusual features in the outer ring are pacted four of Jupiter’s inner moons. The structures called “ring arcs”. Scientists rings cannot be seen from Earth. think they contain dusty material drawn

Beyond Saturn is the ice giant Uranus away from the ring by the gravitational and its 27 moons. Astronomer William forces of the moon Galatea, but they are Herschel discovered it in 1781, and a few at a loss to explain how they maintain years later he believed he detected some their fixed shape and how they formed. rings but could not support his theory. It In our little corner of the universe, wasn’t until 1977 that three researchers none of the four inner planets have rings. from Cornell University discovered five That special characteristic has been grantrings. Two additional rings were found by ed only to the giant planets far out in our Voyager 2 in 1986, and the Hubble Space cosmic neighborhood. We certainly have Telescope found two more in 2005. To- an interesting solar system. day we know of 13 rings, all thin in struc- Wishing you clear skies and good ture. They contain dark objects and dust, health! • and astronomers aren’t sure of their com-

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