Whenever you think of Saturn, the first thing that comes into your mind is its beautiful rings. I feel like whenever you see a space poster, you can always spot Saturn on there because of its discernable rings. Notice that I used the word discernable; that is, we can actually see its rings. Did you know that three other planets in our solar system have rings? Probably not, since we can’t see them that well and no offence to these planets, but nothing can beat Saturn’s rings!
Before we get into the planets with rings, let’s talk about rings in general and their composition. Most rings have been considered decorative elements, but they’re kind of a planet on their own. They undergo temperature shifts and seasons and can even form moons! You’re probably thinking that something like this is not possible, but it is. As Saturn orbits the Sun, its rings tilt, which causes seasonal and temperature changes (just like on Earth). The composition of these rings is primarily ice, dust, and methane, with particles as fine as a piece of grain to particles as large as boulders.
Due to these features of the rings, you would mainly expect to find rings on gaseous giants, which makes sense because Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune are the other planets in the solar system that have rings.
The rings on Jupiter are very hard to see with the naked eye and specialized equipment, making it incredibly difficult to determine its composition and its dependencies (thanks a lot, Jupiter!) The composition of the rings is similar to Saturn’s in that it is made of dust and ice which was given off through the collisions the planet’s two Moons had with comets and asteroids. Scientists recently theorized that Jupiter might have been able to have rings just like Saturn had it not been for the gravity from the planet’s four large Moons, Ganymede, Callisto, Io, and Europa, or it could just be that the dust particles were too fine to create thick rings like Saturn’s.
Neptune’s rings are unlike the other gas giants in that it doesn’t contain smaller dust and ice particles but rather particles that range as small as rocks to as large as boulders. There are around 5 central rings with four ring arcs. This phenomenon was determined by capturing images of the planet’s rings, which found that it was much brighter in most areas compared to other planets (except Saturn, of course). Its rings also changed a lot because in 1985, one of the rings was 100% bright, but 20 years later, it was hardly visible during a mission flyby.
Uranus has 9 bright rings as well as many other fainter rings. The outer rings primarily consist of icy boulders that extend miles across, and the inner rings are primarily made of rocks with traces of ice. The rings are hypothesized to be formed from the breakup of a Moon because its rings are so dark that it reflects as much light as charcoal. As mentioned before, Uranus orbits on its side, which means that its rings also do the same.
This begs the question, why do planets have rings? Well, just like the answer to the many mysteries of our universe, it’s gravity. Essentially, objects orbiting within a larger body's gravitational threshold endure tidal forces that overwhelm their own gravity, preventing them from forming to make a Moon. This is quite confusing, so let’s just say that gravity prevents dust and ice particles from combining into a Moon.
So now, if someone asks you which planet in our solar system has rings, you have four options to choose from!
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