• Question: How were Saturn's rings formed?

    Asked by rowanjordan to Chris on 20 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Christopher Phillips

      Christopher Phillips answered on 20 Jun 2011:

      Along time ago, many millions of years ago, we suspect Saturn had a moon, very similar to our own moon. This moon was caught in Saturn’s massive gravitation field and began to fall inward toward the planet! As it got closer it was ripped apart by the huge gravitational forces that surround the mighty world. The tiny moon was ripped to shreds! All the debris from this cosmic cataclysm slowly settled down and spread out to for that beautiful system of rings we see today.
      These rings are made up of trillions of chunks of ice and rock, the leftovers of this massive disaster 🙂

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