Talk:Rings of Saturn
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Saturn's Rings are really cool!!
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[edit] Keeler Gap width
Keeler Gap says its width is 42 kilometers which is not consistent with this table… Which one is correct?
- Has there been a reply to this? The table indicates 35 km; the page text indicates 42 km (I am assuming the 42 is more accurate -- only because it isn't rounded to the nearest 5). Or is the Gap jagged and approximate (sort of how the F Ring is "bumpy and lumpy"? Tesseract501 30 May 2006
[edit] Merge
I've merged the ring pages together here. However, now there's a lot of duplicated images of this page, although the captions may be different. I'm not sure what's the clearest way to present them. Also, the layout of the F Ring images needs work, maybe we can just have one image for F Ring? Ewlyahoocom 15:26, 7 February 2006 (UTC)
- Well, the simplest thing is to delete the duplicated images and rewrite the caption of the one you keep.
- I agree about the F-Ring but I can't actually decvide which should go. The Singing Badger 18:09, 12 February 2006 (UTC)
- I made them a gallery. Rmhermen 17:50, 11 March 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Hirn's theory
What was Gustave-Adolphe Hirn's theory? Cutler 11:09, 7 March 2006 (UTC)
No mention of thickness? I was actually looking for that information but it is not here, I think this should be included. From http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Saturn&Display=Rings "a thickness of about 1 kilometer (3,200 feet) or less," Vespine 04:41, 15 March 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Ring B Composition
Unless it's an astronomical/physical term I'm unfamiliar with, I'm going to guess that whoever said "B ring is made of snot" just has a very bad sense of humor. -- Raveled
[edit] Huygens Gap
This is a great page to get detail information on the ring systems of Saturn. This is the best detail that I have found. Thank you for putting so much effort and info into it. It is appreciated. I have a questions about the Huygens Gap. The page text may indicate that the Huygens Gap separates the B Ring from the Cassini Division. If so, I am confused by the distances reflected on the table. The table shows the Cassini Division beginning where the B Ring ends. Doesn't the Huygens Gap begin where the B Ring ends and the Cassini Division begin when the Huygens Gap ends? If so, then the distances and widths may need to be updated. In addition, the widths indicated for the Huygens Gap (even the lesser at 285 km) seem to conflict with the outer boundary of the B Ring (i.e., the B Ring would overlap the gap). BTW: The table indicates 4700 for the Cassini Gap width, but the text indicates 4800. Thanks again for a great page. It has been very helpful to me. Tesseract501 30 May 2006
[edit] Four new rings
IAUC 8759[1] (subscription required) lists four new rings of Saturn (R/2006 S 1, R/2006 S 2, R/2006 S 3, R/2006 S 4).
[edit] Thickness of rings
Can someone add information about how thick each rings is as well as the average particle size (and distance between particles) within each ring? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.199.241.212 (talk) 07:23, 8 February 2007 (UTC).
(moved from below - Spiral Wave) Thickness of the rings: It seems necessary to explain the extraordinary thinness of the rings. It is not surprising that tidal effects from Saturn bring satellites into the equatorial plane but it seems that this effect is not enough to rationalise the thinness. Is there a text book or paper that gives the physics of the ring geometry?
- I see there is already some information on thickness; even the thicker rings are about 100 metres deep; regarding how they got that small, it's just conservation of angular momentum and vertical settling. Saturn's oblateness probably helps too. I'll see if I can dig something up regarding this and the particle size. Spiral Wave 02:31, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Future of the rings
I saw on a BBC documentary that Saturn is going to lose its rings in about 100 million years. Are there any sources to confirm this? Serendipodous 11:17, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
- All ring systems vanish eventually; that timescale sounds about right, at a guess. Saturn's system is pretty unusual though - there's some weird dynamics going on that keeps everything in place, and one or two rings are apparently still being refreshed by satellites (eg Enceladus). I'll look into this too, since the article seems not to draw too much attention. Was the programme The Sky At Night, Horizon, or something else? Knowing their source might be a good starting point. Spiral Wave 02:45, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
well maby the rings gravitational force will eventually pull parts of them together, maby forming several moons, or even eventally one large moon. Its just a theory, but does anyone know of any evidance to support it?
