us.2u Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 Most of us know Saturn is the 6th planet from the sun & that is encircled by a broadband of rings. Astronomers in the 1600's were mystified now they have been studied by telescopes & space probes. In 2004,the Cassini space probe arrived at Saturn to study the giant gas planet it's rings & moons. It carried a mini-probe,called Huygens,to investigste Saturns moon..."Titan" Scientists believe Titans atmosphere was similar to the air here that existed billions of years ago.....has this been proven? & are we any closer to learning the make-up of Saturns rings? have we learnt anthing from these investigations?...Has this been a wasted enterprise or are we benefitting?...us.2u
Noshi Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 Alot of this information will take a bit of time to find out, I know when I was taking astronomy, one of the well thought theories for the rings are moons that came to close to the planet and ripped itself apart (theres a certain distance any moon can come to the planet before it will just calapse). They can show that the rings slowly change and shrink and grow...but I haven't read anything resently about it and information from cassini to be definite information will probably take some time...
us.2u Posted February 28, 2005 Author Posted February 28, 2005 Thanks Noshi I will look forward to the arrival of new info....us.2u
[Tycho?] Posted March 1, 2005 Posted March 1, 2005 The rings are mostly ice. I dunno, check for yourself: http://www.google.com http://www.wikipedia.com
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