Why does Saturn have rings but other planets do not? The answer has to do with something called the Roche lobe, named after a French astronomer. It seems when a planet orbits around a star (eg our Sun) and that planet has its own orbiting objects (eg a moon), a gravitational pull occurs between the objects. Around Earth, orbiting rocks formed into the moon. On Saturn, the rocks never coalesced and are still orbiting.
Interestingly, the rings are only a few miles in thickness because of the highly localised effects from the Roche lobe. Dr Steve Maran, a noted astronomer, says Galileo was the first to discover the rings, but could not explain them. Today, viewing angles from the Hubble Space Telescope reveal an enormous region extending widely around the planet. There’s also one distinct outer ring, which Maran attributes to geysers emitting from the icy southern polar region on Saturn, leaving a more distinct trail.
For more tasty morsels of science-infused information, pick up a copy of How It Works, the latest science and technology magazine from Imagine Publishing. The first issue goes on sale 29 October and features such awe-inspiring subjects as: a look inside the Eurofighter Typhoon, the causes of extreme weather like tornados, tsunamis and hurricanes, the Bugatti Veyron, vision and sight, nuclear subs and the Large Hadron Collider. The magazine is complemented by a constantly updated website located at www.howitworksdaily.com.
