2023-05-25 01:35:46
24/05/2023
It is estimated that the entire ring system will disappear in 300 million years.
with the mission of To explore Jupiter and Saturn, the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft were launched from Earth in 1977. Since then these spacecraft have taken tens of thousands of images of these planets, and it is from these images that NASA has now been able to determine that Saturn is losing its rings.
According to James O’Donoghue, of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and lead study author Observations of the chemical and thermal response of ‘ring rain’ on Saturn’s ionosphere, published in the specialized magazine Icarus, the rings, made up of chunks of ice and rock, are being pulled onto the planet due to its gravity. According to the study, the flow of water that is generated from the rings towards the planet is enough to fill an Olympic swimming pool in just half an hour. The researchers’ estimates suggest that “at this rate the entire ring system will disappear in 300 million years.”
Meanwhile, Voyager 1 and 2 will continue to move away from Earth. NASA calculations indicate that they are so far away that they have reached interstellar space, which is the region between the stars. The ships have enough fuel and power to operate until just over 2025.
According to NASA, “every Voyager spacecraft contains a message. Both carry a gold record with scenes and sounds from Earth. The discs also contain music and greetings in different languages. So if intelligent life ever finds these spacecraft, they may know regarding Earth and us!”
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