If you think of Saturn the first thing that comes to mind are its rings. But there is a scientific controversy regarding Saturn’s rings, namely: how old are they? In 2004, analyzes by the Cassini probe found them very bright and “clean”, concluding that they must not be more than four hundred million years old, therefore a very recent formation. However, it is difficult to imagine Saturn without rings and a new study could disprove this theory.
In fact, a study was published in the journal Nature Geoscience, conducted by scientists from Earth-Life Science in Tokyo led by Ryuki Hyodo. According to this study, Saturn’s rings are even four and a half billion years old, practically almost the same age as the planet. The reason why the rings appear so “clean”, suggesting that they have a recent formation, is dismantled through very sophisticated computer simulations. Collisions between micrometeorites and particles of icy rings vaporize the former, the vapor expands, cools, condenses in the planet’s magnetic field, forms charged particles and ions, and a small amount escapes the atmosphere and settles on the rings. This is why they appear so “clean”, not because they are recent (ditto, therefore, for Uranus and Neptune).
By the way, I add something little known to the non-specialist public: in a study published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, the Earth also had rings, about 466 million years ago.
They would have been generated due to a large collision with a dwarf planet that hit the Earth four and a half billion years ago, taking away a part of it that gave rise to the Moon. It’s a shame not to have them yet, the rings, as a planet, would have added a Saturnian charm, but perhaps they would have been a problem for satellites and an obstacle for space travel.