What are the rings of Saturn for?

Question

does anyone know if they have a purpose?

Answer 1

They do have some functions, minor ones though. They help to illuminate moons in more inclined orbits around Saturn (light reflecting off the rings).

Saturn's moon Enceladus has geysers at it's south pole that sprays out material that make up another ring around Saturn. The material spreads out and finds its way on to other moons, like Tethys for example. This makes all the moons whose orbits are close to Enceladus' orbit have a brighter surface.

The rings are probably the result of another moon that broke apart. After all, the rings are just huge highways of little peices of ice. Billions of chuncks, all in their own seperate orbit around Saturn. Saturn's moons that orbit near the rings shape them. Orbital resonances create gaps in the rings, and one moon, Prometheus I believe, passes through one of Saturn's rings every so often, causing it to have a spiral pattern.

Answer 2

According to the last Cassinni Probe that is within Saturns field of view Currently, and as Speculated in the past Saturn is also NOT the only Planet with Rings... The Rings are a Result of Sautrns unique Gravitational field ...Furthermore
Any telescope magnifying more than 30-power will now show them quite well. Although visually they appear solid, the rings actually consist of countless billions of particles chiefly consisting of water ice ranging in size from icebergs to microscopic flecks.

Next April 7, the maximum Saturnicentric latitude of Earth will be attained. In other words, Saturns ring system will be open at its widest to Earth (27 degrees). Such extremes generally come at approximately 15-year intervals, with the last one in September 1988 and the next not coming until October 2017.

Swallowing his children?

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was the first to view the rings, in 1610, although what he saw through his crude telescope left him completely baffled. Saturn appeared to him not to have rings but rather two smaller bodies flanking it on either side. In writing about his discovery, he had no word for it and so included a small drawing, substituting as a noun, in the text.

Later, when the rings turned edgewise to Earth and the two companions disappeared, Galileo invoked an ancient myth when he wrote, "Has Saturn swallowed his children?" It was not until March 1655 that a Dutch mathematician, Christian Huygens (1629-1695) utilized a much better telescope, and saw the rings for what they really were.

Saturn was the god of agriculture. The name is related to both the noun satus (seed corn) and the verb serere (to sow).
-----------------Taken from space.com resources about Saturn.
Neptun also has Rings in the same manner, but are not as easily viewable as say Saturns positioning with the earth and is much further away.

Answer 3

There is no purpose to them, it's just the laws of physics in action. This is how it works.

A moon close to Saturn's surface wouldn't be able to withstand the planet's tidal forces. Such a moon would eventually break apart to form rings. The distance from the centre of a planet within which this is going to happen we call it its Roche limit.

No body within a planet's Roche limit can exist as a single object and it's going to break apart. For Saturn this limit is at 147,000Km from its centre. All Saturn's rings are within this distance and that's why Saturn has rings.

Answer 4

The "purpose" is the same as for the satellites of the planets or for the planets themselves - none. They weren't created for a purpose. It is totally different if you ask about the origin. Cosmic dust was kept together by the gravity of the planet, but it was too close to the planet to merge into a satellite. In fact, a satellite in that area would disintegrate due to the gravitation of the planet.

This situation appears around the other large planets as well - Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune. They also have rings, but these are much smaller and more difficult to see.

Answer 5

They are not 'For' anything.

The are completely natural, and are formed by billions of little chunks of rock and ice, that orbit the planet. For some reason they never became a moon.

I do not believe that they add anything to the planet at all, ie they do not help.

All of the other gas giants such as Jupiter's Uranus and Neptune also have faint rings, again they play no role in actually effecting the planet apart from the look nice.

It is possible however, that a meteor would hit the rings as apposed to the planet, but it is unlikely.

Answer 6

It's material left over from Saturn's creation; Saturn's other moons keep them from forming into a new moon, and most planets with multiple moons have rings. (Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune also have rings.) Mars and Pluto (so far as we know) do not, but probably because Mars' moons are so small, and Pluto itself is quite small.

Answer 7

Hi. They seem to be the remains of a comet or other body that was captured by Saturn not too long ago. They are temporary.

Answer 8

No they have no purpose. They are just dust and rocks orbiting the planet. Posibly from an asteriod impact.

Answer 9

Their purpose is Governmentally classified.
What gave you the idea that it's an alien trading post, and George W. Bush is selling you into slavery for oil?
Well, uh....it's not, uhh.... true, uhhh.....
Where's my memory eraser stick?!

Answer 10

For our viewing pleasure, wonder and enjoyment. They will only last a couple of hundred million years more, so better start gazing.