Answer to Question #224 in Astronomy | Astrophysics for Anna

Question

Can we walk on the Saturn rings? Why?

Answer 1

The bright flat concentric rings around Saturn are formed by the movements of myriads of icy bodies, reflecting the light, ranging from tiny grains to blocks up to size of tens of metres, revolving around Saturn held by the gravitational forces. The Saturn rings are divided into numerous small narrow concentric rings. As there is only several metres distance between the particles and the orbital velocity is thousands of kph, the particles move with the strict preservation of the order of division into smaller rings. The thickness of the Saturn rings is less than 1 km, the outside diameter of the Saturn rings is approximately 300 000 km.