Current:Home > reviewsSaturn's rings will disappear from view in March 2025, NASA says -WealthTrail Solutions
Saturn's rings will disappear from view in March 2025, NASA says
View
Date:2025-04-24 21:40:02
Saturn's rings will seemingly disappear from view in 2025, a phenomenon caused by the planet's rotation on an axis. Saturn won't actually lose its rings in 2025, but they will go edge-on, meaning they will be essentially invisible to earthlings, NASA confirmed to CBS News.
The rings will only be slightly visible in the months before and after they go edge-on, Amy Simon, senior scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said in a statement to CBS News. Those who want to see what Saturn looks like on various dates can use the PDS rings node, she said.
Because the planet rotates on an axis tilted by 26.7 degrees, the view of its rings from Earth changes with time, Vahe Peroomian, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Southern California, told CBS News via email.
Every 13 to 15 years, Earth sees Saturn's rings edge-on, meaning "they reflect very little light, and are very difficult to see, making them essentially invisible," Peroomian said.
The rings last went edge-on in 2009 and they will be precisely edge-on on March 23, 2025, he said.
"Galileo Galilei was the first person to look at Saturn through a telescope, in the early 1610s," Peroomian said. "His telescope could not resolve the rings, and it was up to Christiaan Huygens to finally realize in 1655 that Saturn had a ring or rings that was detached from the planet."
Since that discovery, scientists have studied the rings and NASA's Cassini-Huygens mission determined the rings likely formed about 100 million years ago – which is relatively new for space, Peroomian said.
Even small telescopes can give stargazers a view of Saturn's rings when they aren't edge-on, he said. "The students in my astronomy class at USC observed Saturn through a telescope just last week, and the rings were clearly visible."
After going edge-on in 2025, the rings will be visible a few months later.
Saturn, a gas giant that is 4 billion years old, isn't the only planet with rings – but it does have the most spectacular and complex ones, according to NASA.
In 2018, NASA said its Voyager 1 and 2 missions confirmed decades ago that Saturn is losing its rings. "The rings are being pulled into Saturn by gravity as a dusty rain of ice particles under the influence of Saturn's magnetic field," NASA said.
The so-called "ring rain" produces enough water to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool every half-hour and it could cause Saturn's rings to disappear in 300 million years, said James O'Donoghue, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Cassini spacecraft also determined ring material is falling into the planet's equator, which could cause the rings to disappear even faster – in 100 million years.
A day on Saturn – the amount of time it takes to make one rotation – only lasts 10.7 hours, but it takes about 29.4 Earth years to complete its orbit around the sun. Like Earth, Saturn experiences seasons – this is caused by their rotations on an axis.
Caitlin O'KaneCaitlin O'Kane is a digital content producer covering trending stories for CBS News and its good news brand, The Uplift.
veryGood! (8856)
Related
- Taylor Swift makes surprise visit to Kansas City children’s hospital
- South Korean president's party divided over defiant martial law speech
- Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti
- Charges tied to China weigh on GM in Q4, but profit and revenue top expectations
- Man can't find second winning lottery ticket, sues over $394 million jackpot, lawsuit says
- Appeals court scraps Nasdaq boardroom diversity rules in latest DEI setback
- Meet first time Grammy nominee Charley Crockett
- This was the average Social Security benefit in 2004, and here's what it is now
- Residents worried after ceiling cracks appear following reroofing works at Jalan Tenaga HDB blocks
- Juan Soto praise of Mets' future a tough sight for Yankees, but World Series goal remains
Ranking
- Spooky or not? Some Choa Chu Kang residents say community garden resembles cemetery
- B.A. Parker is learning the banjo
- Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
- Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
- Rolling Loud 2024: Lineup, how to stream the world's largest hip hop music festival
- Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
- Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
- DeepSeek: Did a little known Chinese startup cause a 'Sputnik moment' for AI?
Recommendation
US Open player compensation rises to a record $65 million, with singles champs getting $3.6 million
Warm inflation data keep S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq under wraps before Fed meeting next week
NFL Week 15 picks straight up and against spread: Bills, Lions put No. 1 seed hopes on line
Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
Audit: California risked millions in homelessness funds due to poor anti-fraud protections
Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
Current, future North Carolina governor’s challenge of power
As Trump Enters Office, a Ripe Oil and Gas Target Appears: An Alabama National Forest