2006-09-11 07:25:06 · 5 answers · asked by some1virtual 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Interparticle inelastic collisions dissipate some energy, but orbital angular momentum must be conserved. Over many collision timescales the ring settles into the lowest energy state that still contains all of the original angular momentum. That would be something flat. This is also why a spherical rotating cloud of gas will settle into a very thin disk.
There is a nice review article on rings here: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1982ARA%26A..20..249G
2006-09-11 19:35:34 · answer #1 · answered by Mr. Quark 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ring Structure and Composition
High resolution photographs from the Voyager missions indicate that the rings of Saturn are composed of hundreds of thousands of "ringlets", and that regions like the largest "gap" called the Cassini division, also contain fainter rings (adjacent image). The rings cannot be solid, because they lie inside the Roche limit. They presumably represent either a satellite torn apart by tidal forces, or (more likely) material that was never allowed to condense into moons because of the tidal forces. The evidence indicates that the rings are composed of particles that are mostly ice crystals, with sizes as large as centimeters or meters. The total mass in the rings is about the size of a medium mass moon, and the rings are only about 10 km thick.
2006-09-11 14:31:02 · answer #2 · answered by David P 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I don't know if anyone really knows that. Presumably there was just a lot of junk in that area and Saturn started collecting it into rings. Keep in mind that Saturn isn't the only planet with rings; in fact, all four gas giants have rings, although the other three only have small, faint ones.
You can read more about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_ring
2006-09-11 14:30:03 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Every planet is larger at its equator than elsewhere -- it's a result of centrifugal force. With more mass at the equator, anything orbiting will tend to migrate towards a planet's equator over time, and there's been lots of time for the debris around Saturn to move there. Same reason the solar system's mass of planets is also concentrated around a single plane (the sun's equator), same reason galaxies are mostly flattened into close proximity to one plane. Simple physics.
2006-09-11 14:32:55 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
they are all tied to the planet by a string, which saturn uses like a belt...
2006-09-11 14:30:12 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋