EPISODE · Feb 8, 2019 · 39 MIN
29: The Serendipitous Rings of Saturn
from syzygy · host Chris Stewart
Help us make Syzygy even better! Tell your friends and give us a review, or show your support on Patreon: patreon.com/syzygypodSyzygy is produced by Chris Stewart and co-hosted by Dr Emily Brunsden from the Department of Physics at the University of York.On the web: syzygy.fm | Twitter: @syzygypodThings we talk about in this episode:The research in this episode: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2019/01/16/science.aat2965?rss=1Article about the research: https://www.universetoday.com/141272/saturns-rings-are-only-10-to-100-million-years-old/The Cassini-Huygens mission: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/cassini/overview/Images from Cassini: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/cassini/galleries/images/Farewell, Cassini: https://www.engadget.com/2017/09/15/cassini-end-of-mission-rip/Mimas, the Death Star moon: https://www.universetoday.com/15436/saturns-moon-mimas/Comet smashes into Jupiter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Shoemaker–Levy_9How long is a day on Saturn? https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7316
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What this episode covers
Saturn. There's no denying, it's gorgeous. And for 13 years the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft, a joint mission by NASA, the ESA and the ASI, orbited the ringed planet, sending back stunning images of the rings, the many moons and moonlets, and the planet surface, as well as copious data that has changed astronomers understanding of Saturn and its system. Some of that data, released recently, shows that those iconic rings aren't as massive as once thought — which also implies they're not terribly old either, and could disappear in a few hundred million years. On a cosmic time scale, blink and you miss them! We're lucky to be here to witness Saturn's magnificence.
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29: The Serendipitous Rings of Saturn
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