Editing Saturn (section)

== Planetary rings ==
{{Main|Rings of Saturn}}
[[File:Saturn from Cassini Orbiter (2004-10-06).jpg|thumb|The [[rings of Saturn]] (imaged here by ''[[Cassini–Huygens|Cassini]]'' in October 2004) are the most massive and conspicuous in the Solar System.<ref name="NMM Saturn" />]]
Saturn is probably best known for the system of [[planetary ring]]s that makes it visually unique.<ref name="NMM Saturn">{{cite web |title=Saturn |url=http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.286 |publisher=National Maritime Museum |access-date=6 July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080623204304/http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.286 |archive-date=23 June 2008 |url-status=dead |date=20 August 2015 }}</ref> The rings extend from {{convert|6630|to|120700|km|mi}} outward from Saturn's equator and average approximately {{convert|20|m|ft}} in thickness. They are composed predominantly of water ice, with trace amounts of [[tholin]] impurities and a peppered coating of approximately 7% amorphous [[carbon]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Composition of Saturn's Rings |display-authors=1 |author=Poulet F. |author2=Cuzzi J.N. |journal=Icarus |doi=10.1006/icar.2002.6967 |volume=160 |page=350 |date=2002 |bibcode=2002Icar..160..350P |issue=2 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1229856 |access-date=28 June 2019 |archive-date=29 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729190601/https://zenodo.org/record/1229856 |url-status=live }}</ref> The particles that make up the rings range in size from specks of dust up to 10&nbsp;m.<ref>{{cite web |last=Porco |first=Carolyn |author-link=Carolyn Porco |title=Questions about Saturn's rings |website=CICLOPS web site |url=http://www.ciclops.org/sci/common_questions.php#ring |access-date=18 June 2017 |archive-date=3 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003073842/http://www.ciclops.org/sci/common_questions.php#ring |url-status=live }}</ref> While the other [[gas giant]]s also have ring systems, Saturn's is the largest and most visible.

There is a debate on the age of the rings. One side supports that they are ancient, and were [[Formation and evolution of the Solar System|created simultaneously with Saturn from the original nebular material]] (around 4.6&nbsp;billion years ago),<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Canup |first1=Robin M. |title=Origin of Saturn's rings and inner moons by mass removal from a lost Titan-sized satellite |journal=Nature |date=December 2010 |volume=468 |issue=7326 |pages=943–946 |doi=10.1038/nature09661 |pmid=21151108 |bibcode=2010Natur.468..943C |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09661 |access-date=22 May 2024 |language=en |issn=1476-4687}}</ref> or shortly after the [[Late Heavy Bombardment|LHB]] (around 4.1 to 3.8&nbsp;billion years ago).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Crida |first1=A. |last2=Charnoz |first2=S. |title=Formation of Regular Satellites from Ancient Massive Rings in the Solar System |journal=Science |date=30 November 2012 |volume=338 |issue=6111 |pages=1196–1199 |doi=10.1126/science.1226477 |pmid=23197530 |url=https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1226477 |access-date=22 May 2024|arxiv=1301.3808 |bibcode=2012Sci...338.1196C }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Charnoz |first1=Sébastien |last2=Morbidelli |first2=Alessandro |last3=Dones |first3=Luke |last4=Salmon |first4=Julien |title=Did Saturn's rings form during the Late Heavy Bombardment? |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0019103508003825 |journal=Icarus |date=February 2009 |volume=199 |issue=2 |pages=413–428 |doi=10.1016/j.icarus.2008.10.019 |access-date=22 May 2024 |arxiv=0809.5073 |bibcode=2009Icar..199..413C }}</ref> The other side supports that they are much younger, created around 100 million years ago.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kempf |first1=Sascha |last2=Altobelli |first2=Nicolas |last3=Schmidt |first3=Jürgen |last4=Cuzzi |first4=Jeffrey N. |last5=Estrada |first5=Paul R. |last6=Srama |first6=Ralf |title=Micrometeoroid infall onto Saturn's rings constrains their age to no more than a few hundred million years |journal=Science Advances |date=12 May 2023 |volume=9 |issue=19 |pages=eadf8537 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.adf8537 |pmid=37172091 |pmc=10181170 |bibcode=2023SciA....9F8537K }}</ref><ref name="NYT-210230928">{{cite news |last=Andrew |first=Robin George |title=Saturn's Rings May Have Formed in a Surprisingly Recent Crash of 2 Moons - Researchers completed a complex simulation that supports the idea that the giant planet's jewelry emerged hundreds of millions of years ago, not billions. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/28/science/saturn-rings-moons-formation.html |date=28 September 2023 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20230929044637/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/28/science/saturn-rings-moons-formation.html |archivedate=29 September 2023 |access-date=29 September 2023 }}</ref><ref name="TAJ-20230927">{{cite journal |author=Teodoro, L.F.A. |display-authors=et al |title=A Recent Impact Origin of Saturn's Rings and Mid-sized Moons |date=27 September 2023 |journal=[[The Astrophysical Journal]]|volume=955 |number=2 |page=137 |doi=10.3847/1538-4357/acf4ed |arxiv=2309.15156 |bibcode=2023ApJ...955..137T |doi-access=free }}</ref> An [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] research team, supporting the latter theory, proposed that the rings are remnant of a destroyed moon of Saturn, named [[Chrysalis (hypothetical moon)|″Chrysalis″]].<ref name="chrysalis">{{Cite journal|url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn1234|title=Loss of a satellite could explain Saturn's obliquity and young rings|first1=Jack|last1=Wisdom|first2=Rola|last2=Dbouk|first3=Burkhard|last3=Militzer|first4=William B.|last4=Hubbard|first5=Francis|last5=Nimmo|first6=Brynna G.|last6=Downey|first7=Richard G.|last7=French|date=16 September 2022|journal=Science|volume=377|issue=6612|pages=1285–1289|doi=10.1126/science.abn1234|pmid=36107998|bibcode=2022Sci...377.1285W |hdl=1721.1/148216 |s2cid=252310492 |url-access=subscription|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

Beyond the main rings, at a distance of 12&nbsp;million&nbsp;km (7.5&nbsp;million&nbsp;mi) from the planet is the sparse Phoebe ring. It is tilted at an angle of 27° to the other rings and, like [[Phoebe (moon)|Phoebe]], orbits in [[Retrograde motion|retrograde]] fashion.<ref>{{cite web |first=Rob |last=Cowen |date=7 November 1999 |url=http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/48097/title/Largest_known_planetary_ring_discovered |title=Largest known planetary ring discovered |work=Science News |access-date=9 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110822023022/http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/48097/title/Largest_known_planetary_ring_discovered |archive-date=22 August 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Some of the moons of Saturn, including [[Pandora (moon)|Pandora]] and [[Prometheus (moon)|Prometheus]], act as [[shepherd moon]]s to confine the rings and prevent them from spreading out.<ref name=russell2004/> [[Pan (moon)|Pan]] and [[Atlas (moon)|Atlas]] cause weak, linear density waves in Saturn's rings that have yielded more reliable calculations of their masses.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/02/050225110106.htm |title=NASA's Cassini Spacecraft Continues Making New Discoveries |website=ScienceDaily |author=NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory |date=3 March 2005 |access-date=19 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111108223641/http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/02/050225110106.htm |archive-date=8 November 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{wide image|Saturn's rings dark side mosaic.jpg|2200px|Natural-color mosaic of ''Cassini'' narrow-angle camera images of the unilluminated side of Saturn's D, C, B, A, and F rings (left to right) taken on 9 May 2007 (distances are to the planet's center).}}