Particles from Saturn’s rings spiral to much higher heights than previously thought, creating a spectacle resembling a giant dust cake surrounding the planet. Scientists reached these results thanks to data collected by the Cassini probe during 2017, following a series of maneuvers it carried out in Saturn’s orbit.

Despite the extreme accuracy of Saturn’s rings, researchers discovered traces of rock particles at an altitude of than 100,000 kilometers above the main level of the rings, noting that the width of these rings is tens of thousands of kilometers, while their thickness does not exceed only about 10 meters.

This data was collected during the final phase of the Cassini mission in 2017, when the probe performed extremely dangerous maneuvers, during which it was able to collect dust samples in different regions of the orbit. Analyzes showed that the chemical composition of the discovered particles is unique and identical to the material of the main rings, but their presence at this great altitude surprised scientists.

In order for these particles to be able to overcome Saturn’s gravity and the influence of its magnetic field, they had to reach enormous speeds estimated at about 25 kilometers per second. Researchers believe that the reason for this increase is the collision of the rings with microscopic meteorites, which leads to the generation of high heat that contributes to the evaporation of the material and pushing it upward.

Professor Frank Spahn from the University of Potsdam said that the discovery of dust at such a distance from the main rings is surprising, explaining that the particles of the rings are very small and rarely collide, and when that happens they tend to stick together like snowballs, instead of being scattered like billiard balls.

He added that collisions with microscopic meteorites occur throughout the solar system, which means that similar processes may occur around other planets that have rings, such as the planet Uranus.

“If high-speed collisions with ice rings are a general cosmological phenomenon, we should expect similar dust halos to form above and below other rings,” Professor Spahn concludes.

The study, based on Cassini probe data, indicates that Saturn’s rings may be much older than previously thought.

Source: TASS