• Question: How many rings does Saturn have?

    Asked by conn207 to Antonia, Douglas, Hugh, Matt, Tom on 24 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Matthew Hurley

      Matthew Hurley answered on 13 Jun 2010:

      This is a very deep question – does anyone know? I know nothing about astonomy, but as far as I can tell there are a lot of particles spinning around, each of different sizes. The number of rings you can count depends on how well you are able to see them. I bet many of the small rings are not able to be seen with even the very best telescopes at the moment. This may be a ‘wait and see’ answer!

    • Photo: Douglas Blane

      Douglas Blane answered on 24 Jun 2010:

      Saturn has four main groups of rings and three narrower groups.

      The groups are separated by gaps called divisions. But close up views of Saturn’s rings by spacecraft shows that these seven ring groups have thousands of smaller rings.

      Scientists often think of the rings nowadays as a disc with spaces in it, rather than as separate rings.

      Lovely photo of the rings from Cassini here:

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