Author: Brett Molina / Source: USA TODAY
Saturn is losing its signature rings at a “worst-case scenario” rate, said NASA scientists, and the bands could disappear completely within 100 million years.
In a study published Monday in the journal “Icarus,” researchers confirmed Saturn’s rings are disappearing at the maximum rate first estimated through observations by Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes that launched in the 1970s.
The rings are being pulled into the planet “by gravity as a dusty rain of ice particles under the influence of Saturn’s magnetic field,” NASA said.
The phenomenon is called “ring rain,” and it drains enough water from rings to fill an Olympic-sized swimming…
The post Saturn’s rings are disappearing at a ‘worst-case scenario’ rate, NASA says appeared first on FeedBox.