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How old are Saturn's rings? Study suggests they could be as old as the planet

A recent study published in the journal Icarus suggests that Saturn's rings might be as old as the planet itself, challenging previous theories that they were relatively young, forming perhaps only a few hundred million years ago. Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder analyzed data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017, focusing on the rate at which the rings are losing mass due to "ring rain," where icy particles from the rings fall into Saturn's atmosphere. By estimating this rate, they deduced that the rings could have been around for billions of years, potentially since Saturn's formation about 4.5 billion years ago. This finding implies that the rings might have formed from debris left over after the planet's creation or from a collision with another celestial body early in the solar system's history.

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[ https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/how-old-are-saturn-s-rings-study-suggests-they-could-be-as-old-as-the-planet/ar-AA1vXBfi ]