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Saturn's Rings Are Ancient

Posted by Zonk on from the steady-relationship dept.

gardenermike writes "Analysis of data from the Cassini probe suggests that Saturn's rings may be billions of years old, rather than the previously surmised millions. Previous research suggested that the rings were young, because of the lack of dark dust accumulation on their surfaces. However, the latest data suggests that the ring surfaces are even younger than previously thought, meaning, ironically, that the rings themselves are much older: they are not static enough to collect dust, but rather are continuously recycling material, with clumps continuously forming and disintegrating."

2 of 61 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Shouldn't this have been the default assumption by Rakishi · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    1. Rings are as I understand it in general unstable or were thought to be so, given a relatively short amount of time (millions of years for large planets) they will break up.
    2. Saturn's rings have particle ranging from mm to many meters in size.
    3. You are complaining of a million years being short yet at the same time expect us to see changes that would take millions of years to happen? Are you drunk or simply insane.
    4. Life on earth is billions of years old, our own primate ancestors were around millions of years ago.
    5. You know fuck this, you're a bloody arm-chair physicist who knows jack shit, can't even think with the smallest amount of rationality and lacks the intelligence to comprehend either of those. Your own infinitesimal ego needs constant life support to even exist and so your are forced to delude yourself into believing you know better than those who spend their lifetimes on a subject.

  2. But by cyofee · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Why would God make something appear so old, when it is clear he made it 6000 years ago?