Usually, beauty is transient. The rings of Saturn, one of the most beautiful things in the Solar System, are of no exception.
According to a new research published on Monday, Saturn's rings may disappear completely in just 100 million years, which is just a blink of the eye on a cosmic scale.
From Earth, Saturn's rings look like a halo, homogeneous and geometrically perfect. However, they are comprised of countless small particles, ranging from micrometer to meter in size. The ring particles are made almost entirely of water ice, with a trace component of rock material.
Recent studies have already found ring particles are being pulled onto Saturn's surface by gravity, causing a phenomenon known as "ring rain." But a new research, led by NASA's James O'Donoghue, shows that the decay of the rings is happening much faster than previous estimations.
"From this alone, the entire ring system will be gone in 300 million years, but add to this the Cassini-spacecraft measured ring-material detected falling into Saturn's equator, and the rings have less 100 million years to live," he added.
There is still no consensus on the mechanism of formation. While some theoretical models indicate they are likely to have formed early in the Solar System's history -- some 4.4 billion years ago; other theories suggest a relatively recent origin -- around 100 million years.
NASA's new research used latest data from the Cassini spacecraft recorded before it plunged into Saturn's atmosphere in 2017 after 20 years of observation and underscores the recent-origin theories.
"We're lucky to be around to see Saturn's ring system, which appears to be in the middle of its lifetime," said O'Donoghue.
"However, if rings are temporary, perhaps we just missed out on seeing giant ring systems of Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune, which have only thin ringlets today, " he added.
