Jan 30, 2013 · Contents. This article is for students grades K-4. Saturn is a funny-looking planet. True, it’s not the only planet with rings. Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune have rings, too. But Saturn’s rings are the biggest and brightest. An astronomer named Galileo was the first person to see Saturn’s rings. He spotted them while looking into space ... Saturn’s ring system is divided into several separate rings, the most notable of which are designated as the D, C, B, A, F, G, and E ring. Within Saturn’s outermost E-ring orbits the icy moon Enceladus, which may be the reason why Saturn has an E-ring at all. Unlike the other rings, the E-ring is entirely composed of microscopic …Saturn's rings are thought to be pieces of comets, asteroids, or shattered moons that broke up before they reached the planet, torn apart by Saturn's powerful gravity. They are made of billions of small chunks of ice and rock coated with other materials such as dust.This ring is composed of microscopic icy particles, which makes it hard to discern among the others. ... Saturn’s rings and moons have been the subject of scientific debate. A 2019 study showed ...What are Saturn's rings made of? Saturn's rings are made of billions of pieces of ice, dust and rocks. Some of these particles are as small as a grain of salt, while others are as big …The rings of Saturn (see also “ Planetary Rings ”), known to be made of mostly water (H 2 O) ice, are one of the most fascinating objects in our solar system. The discovery of X-rays from the rings of Saturn was made with Chandra ACIS-S observations in January 2004 and April 2003.Those rings of Saturn that lie outside the A ring are analogous to Jupiter’s rings in that they are composed mostly of small particles continuously shed by moons. Beyond the G ring is the extremely broad and diffuse E ring , which extends from 3 to at least 8 Saturn radii. Our solar system is made up of a star—the Sun—eight planets, 146 moons, a bunch of comets, asteroids and space rocks, ice, and several dwarf planets, such as Pluto. The eight planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Mercury is closest to the Sun. Neptune is the farthest.Jun 30, 2023 · Another study combining results from Cassini, the Voyager 1 and 2 flybys in the early 1980s and ground-based telescope observations has found Saturn's rings are being drained of material as a dusty rain falls from the rings into Saturn's atmosphere at a rate that means the rings will be gone in about 100 million years. Furthermore, if the ... Jul 26, 2023 · Saturn has seven main rings, each composed of thousands of tiny ringlets. The rings are huge -- the biggest ones spanning 170,000 miles (273,588 km) in diameter. They are, however, proportionately very thin -- only about 650 feet (200 meters) thick. Scientists have known since the 1980s that Saturn’s innermost rings are eroding. The rings, which are made up of large chunks of ice, are falling on the planet as icy rain because of the planet’s intense gravity. Now the downpour is happening at such a high rate that an Olympic-sized swimming pool of water rains on the gas giant daily ...The Uranus System. The ring and moon system of Uranus is tilted at 98°, just like the planet itself. It consists of 11 rings and 27 currently known moons. The five largest moons are similar in size to the six regular moons of Saturn, with diameters of 500 to 1600 kilometers. Discovered in 1977, the rings of Uranus are narrow ribbons of dark ...The Cassini-Huygens mission arrived in 2004 for what became a 13-year study of the planet and its moons and rings. Basic Planetary Data. Saturn’s orbit lies between those of Jupiter and Uranus. Like Jupiter, Saturn is made mostly of liquid and gaseous hydrogen and helium.30 jun 2023 ... ... rings made of tiny particles. The lower right graphic is a ... The Cassini spacecraft that orbited Saturn for 13 years made many such observations ...Cassini observations confirm that Saturn's rings are predominantly water ice. The particles in Saturn's rings cover a range of sizes, from dust to small moons. Occultation results show the particles form temporary elongated aggregates tens of meters across. Some of the ring structure is created by moons, others by various instabilities. Data from future Cassini …Terms in this set (6) Saturn's rings are composed of __________. lots of individual particles of ice and rock. Although Saturn's rings appear solid when viewed from Earth, they are actually made of. countless icy particles ranging in size from dust grains to small boulders. If Saturn's rings consisted only of chunks of coal, they would appearRather, Saturn’s rings are composed of countless particles that can range from the size of a pebble to the size of a house. These particles are primarily composed of rock and ice, and they form a series of vast rings that encircle Saturn. Interestingly, while Saturn is widely known as the ringed planet, it is not the only planet that has ...Saturn’s rings are one of the most beautiful sights in the solar system (Figure 2). From outer to inner, the three brightest rings are labeled with the extremely unromantic names of A, B, and C Rings. Table 2 gives the dimensions of the rings in both kilometers and units of the radius of Saturn, RSaturn. The B Ring is the brightest and has ...Dec 12, 2010 · December 12, 2010 at 1:59 pm. Saturn’s majestic rings are the remnants of a long-vanished moon that was stripped of its icy outer layer before its rocky heart plunged into the planet, a new ... The Cassini-Huygens mission arrived in 2004 for what became a 13-year study of the planet and its moons and rings. Basic Planetary Data. Saturn’s orbit lies between those of Jupiter and Uranus. Like Jupiter, Saturn is made mostly of liquid and gaseous hydrogen and helium.origin of Saturn’s massive ring system. Technical aspects of section 2 are described in detail in section 3 and 4, which are intended mainly for specialists. 2.1 Ring structure Saturn’s rings are the largest and the brightest of the four ring systems surrounding each of the giant planets (for comparison, see Esposito 2006).What are the rings of Saturn made of? The rings of Saturn are clustered chunks of ice, rock, and dust (but mostly ice) that orbit the planet. They range n size from as small as a grain of sand to as large as tall buildings. These chunks orbit Saturn in parallel rings. Each section of the rings orbits Saturn at a different speed.Saturn is a gas giant made almost entirely of hydrogen and helium. There is a dense metallic core at the center of the planet. It is enveloped by liquid metallic hydrogen and a layer of liquid hydrogen; the latter gradually transitions to a gas. The outermost gas layer of Saturn spans 1,000 kilometers (620 miles).Saturn's rings are composed of myriad individual particles which continually collide. See the chapter by Schmidt et al. for a detailed discussion of ring dynamics. A growing consensus is that ring particles are actually agglomerates of smaller elements that are at least temporarily stuck together: these temporary bodies are subject to both ...While the question of when and how Saturn’s rings were formed still remains a mystery, it is now known that they are made of ice and rock, largely varying in size. It looks like it has seven ...Saturn is the second largest planet in the solar system. It's also one of the four Jovian planets. It takes its name from a Roman god of agriculture. While other giant planets have rings, including Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, Saturn's rings are the most extraordinary. The planet's rings are filled with ice, dust and rock, and they orbit Saturn.The rings are so reflective, they appear to light up the night side of the planet. Just above the main ring system on the left is a tiny, unsuspecting blue dot, ultimately responsible …The concept that Saturn's rings are made up of a series of tiny ringlets can be traced to Pierre-Simon Laplace, although true gaps are few – it is more correct to think of the rings as an annular disk with concentric local maxima and minima in density and brightness.The rings of Saturn (see also “ Planetary Rings ”), known to be made of mostly water (H 2 O) ice, are one of the most fascinating objects in our solar system. The discovery of X-rays from the rings of Saturn was made with Chandra ACIS-S observations in January 2004 and April 2003.Compared to Saturn’s 4.5-billion-year existence, that makes its rings relatively young. Yet, one of the studies, published in Icarus, estimates that the rings may also be ephemeral—they might ...Ring Formation and Composition. Saturn's rings span a great distance with the inner D ring approximately 6,700 kilometers from Saturn's cloud tops to the fringes of the E ring, 480,000 kilometers out. Surprisingly, most of the rings are only a few tens of meters thick with a total mass equivalent to a medium sized moon.Neptune has at least five main rings and four prominent ring arcs that we know of so far. Starting near the planet and moving outward, the main rings are named Galle, Leverrier, Lassell, Arago, and Adams. ... Its atmosphere (made up mostly of hydrogen, helium, and methane) extends to great depths, gradually merging into water and other melted ...Jupiter's ring system is made up of fine dust particles, but these are not water ice particles like Saturn.Instead the particles are likely to be rocky, made up of similar materials as asteroids ...The particles in Saturn's rings are composed primarily of water ice and range in size from microns to tens of meters. The rings show a tremendous amount of structure on all scales; some of this structure is related to gravitational interactions with Saturn's many moons, but much of it remains unexplained.Saturn’s rings have own atmosphere. Data from the NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini spacecraft indicate that Saturn's majestic ring system has its own atmosphere - separate from that of the planet itself. During its close fly-bys of the ring system, instruments on Cassini have been able to determine that the environment around the rings is like an ...Here it is given that the ring of saturn is composed of chunks of ice that orbits the planet. The inner radius small r I am writing that is equal to 73000 km and the outer ring is 170000 km. Now you have to calculate the period of an orbiting chunk of ice at the inner radius and the period at outer radius. So the expression of time period t is ...Sufficiently small moons can survive even within the Roche limit because they are held together mostly by interatomic (electromagnetic) forces, not by gravity. Figure 12.10 The rings of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. All distances are expressed in planetary radii. The red line represents the Roche limit.The rings would look mostly white if you looked at them from the cloud tops of Saturn, and interestingly, each ring orbits at a different speed around the planet. Saturn's ring system extends up to 175,000 miles (282,000 kilometers) from the planet, yet the vertical height is typically about 30 feet (10 meters) in the main rings.Rings of saturn are made up of dust, rocks and ice. These rings are formed when the residues of the collisions of passing comets and asteroids to saturn's moons gets attracted due to the planets gravitational pull. These residues then orbit the planet and hence form the rings of saturn.automobile or so. Although the rings are very large and wide, they're also very thin -- their thickness is less than the length of a football field. That's extremely thin, given Saturn's size. For comparison, if Saturn were shrunk down to the size of a basketball, then the thickness of the rings would be about 1/250 the thickness of a human hair.Compared to Saturn’s 4.5-billion-year existence, that makes its rings relatively young. Yet, one of the studies, published in Icarus, estimates that the rings may also be ephemeral—they might ...Saturn’s rings are one of the most beautiful sights in the solar system (Figure 2). From outer to inner, the three brightest rings are labeled with the extremely unromantic names of A, B, and C Rings. Table 2 gives the dimensions of the rings in both kilometers and units of the radius of Saturn, RSaturn. The B Ring is the brightest and has ... The rings of Saturn are the most extensive ring system of any planet in the Solar System. They consist of countless small particles, ranging in size from micrometers to meters, that orbit around Saturn. The ring particles are made almost entirely of water ice, with a trace component of rocky material. There is still no consensus as to their mechanism of formation. Although theoretical models ... The rings' particles may consist of a heavily processed material which was initially similar to that of the inner moons. As a whole, the ring system of Uranus is unlike either the faint dusty rings of Jupiter or the broad and complex rings of Saturn, some of which are composed of very bright material—water ice. Sitemap Submit Feedback. Overview Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in our solar system. Adorned with a dazzling system of icy rings, Saturn is unique among the planets. It is not the only planet to have rings, but none are as spectacular or as complex as Saturn’s. Like fellow gas giant Jupiter, Saturn […]Cassini made 22 orbits that swooped between the rings and the planet before ending its 13-year tour of the ringed planet on Sept. 15, 2017, with a final plunge into Saturn. Cassini spacecraft shared the wonders of Saturn and its family of icy moons—taking us to astounding worlds where methane rivers run to a methane sea and where jets of ice ...SATURN. The second largest planet in the solar system, Saturn is a "gas giant" composed primarily of hydrogen and helium. But it's best known for the bright, beautiful rings that circle its equator. The rings are made up of countless particles of ice and rock that each orbit Saturn independently. Saturn also has more than thirty known moons.The ring system of Saturn is divided into 5 major components: the G, F, A, B, and C rings, listed from outside to inside (but in reality, these major divisions are subdivided into thousands of individual ringlets). The F and G rings are thin and difficult to see, while the A, B, and C rings are broad and easily visible.This ring is composed of microscopic icy particles, which makes it hard to discern among the others. ... Saturn’s rings and moons have been the subject of scientific debate. A 2019 study showed ...Saturn’s rings are made up of small particles of ice, forming ring shapes that reach 175,000 miles away from the planet. And it seems that it is these icy particles that are, somewhat ...Saturn’s rings are one of the most beautiful sights in the solar system (Figure 2). From outer to inner, the three brightest rings are labeled with the extremely unromantic names of A, B, and C Rings. Table 2 gives the …Saturn is a gas giant like Jupiter. It is made mostly of hydrogen and helium. Saturn has a thick atmosphere. Saturn has a lovely set of seven main rings with spaces between them. Time on Saturn. One day on Saturn goes by in just 10.7 hours. One year on Saturn is the same as 29 Earth years. Saturn's Neighbors. Saturn has 145 moons that we know ...In addition a number of fainter rings have been discovered more recently. The D Ring is exceedingly faint and closest to the planet. The F Ring is a narrow feature just outside the A Ring. Beyond that are two far fainter rings named G and E. The particles in Saturn's rings are composed primarily of water ice and range from microns to metres in ...33) What is the Cassini division of Saturn's rings? A) a dark ring, visible from Earth, composed of dark, dusty particles . B) a large gap, visible from Earth. C) the imaginary circle marking the halfway point of Saturn's rings . D) the widest ring of Saturn, located between two large ring gapsRather, Saturn’s rings are composed of countless particles that can range from the size of a pebble to the size of a house. These particles are primarily composed of rock and ice, and they form a series of vast rings that encircle Saturn. Interestingly, while Saturn is widely known as the ringed planet, it is not the only planet that has ...The rings of Saturn (see also “ Planetary Rings ”), known to be made of mostly water (H 2 O) ice, are one of the most fascinating objects in our solar system. The discovery of X-rays from the rings of Saturn was made with Chandra ACIS-S …Dec 12, 2010 · December 12, 2010 at 1:59 pm. Saturn’s majestic rings are the remnants of a long-vanished moon that was stripped of its icy outer layer before its rocky heart plunged into the planet, a new ... A rainbow ring around the sun means that the sun’s rays are passing through ice crystal in cirrostratus clouds at a 22-degree angle. The ring is called a halo. Cirrostratus clouds are thin high-altitude clouds composed of ice crystals.Saturn's rings are made up of billions of particles ranging from grains of sand to mountain-size chunks. Composed predominantly of water-ice, the rings also draw in rocky meteoroids as...Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter.It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine-and-a-half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 times more massive. Saturn's interior is thought to be composed of a rocky core, surrounded by a deep layer of metallic hydrogen, an ...Saturn has seven major rings, and each major ring is made up of many minor rings. The rings differ from each other in composition (what each ring is made of) ...Saturn's rings are made up of 99 percent water and 5 percent impurities. Water ice, in the form of water, is what forms the water. Because ice is a crystalline structure, it reflects and refracts light, resulting in bright rings. Saturn's rings are sparkling in the evening as a result of scattered sunlight. There is a significant difference ...Saturn is the second-largest planet, boasting a stunning set of rings that can be seen in backyard telescopes. Its complex, planet-like moons make Saturn a solar system unto itself. NASA's Dragonfly mission, which is expected to launch in June 2027, will explore Saturn's largest moon, Titan.It is a common misconception that Saturn’s rings are made up of small moons. In reality, the rings are composed of tiny particles of ice and rock that range in size from a grain of sand to a boulder. ... Saturn’s structure is made up of mostly hydrogen and helium, with a core composed of rock and metal. Saturn is the least dense of all the ...A false-color image mosaic shows Daphnis, one of Saturn’s ring-embedded moons, and the waves it kicks up in the Keeler gap. Images collected by Cassini’s close orbits in 2017 are offering new insight into the complex workings of the rings. As NASA’s Cassini dove close to Saturn in its final year, the spacecraft provided intricate detail ...Chapter 12: Saturn Quiz. Shepherd satellites are defined as. A) moons that share an orbit of another, larger moon. B) moons that orbit inside a system of rings. C) satellites in the coma of a comet. D) moons that confine a narrow ring. E) a type of moon that orbits another moon. Click the card to flip 👆.Roughly 97% of Saturn is composed of hydrogen, with helium making up most of the other 3%. ... The rings of Saturn are truly one of the solar system’s most gracious and stunning sights. They are about 248,550 miles (400,000 kilometres) across yet only 328 feet (100 meters) thick. When Galileo first observed Saturn through a telescope …Planetary ring systems are large numbers of particles orbiting about a planet in a flat disc-shaped region. A peek at Saturn through a small telescope reveals the solar system ’ s jewelry, a breathtaking system of rings. These rings consist of a large number of individual particles orbiting Saturn. The diameter of Saturn ’ s ring system is ...About 4 billion years ago, Saturn settled into its current position in the outer solar system, where it is the sixth planet from the Sun. Like Jupiter, Saturn is mostly made of hydrogen and helium, the same two main components that make up the Sun. Structure. Structure. Like Jupiter, Saturn is made mostly of hydrogen and helium.The rings of Saturn are made up of billions of pieces of ice and rock. The ice is thought to be made up of water, methane, and ammonia. The rock is made up of silicates and carbonates. Saturn is the largest and most spectacular ring system in the Solar System, but the rest aren’t as impressive.The rings of Saturn (see also “ Planetary Rings ”), known to be made of mostly water (H 2 O) ice, are one of the most fascinating objects in our solar system. The discovery of X-rays from the rings of Saturn was made with Chandra ACIS-S …SATURN. The second largest planet in the solar system, Saturn is a "gas giant" composed primarily of hydrogen and helium. But it's best known for the bright, beautiful rings that circle its equator. The rings are made up of countless particles of ice and rock that each orbit Saturn independently. Saturn also has more than thirty known moons. The three primary rings include Rings A, B, and C. Beyond those are fainter and more recently-discovered rings — consisting of Rings D, E, F, and G. Most of the rings are very close together, though there is one gap between Rings A and B that's 2,920 miles long. In short, Saturn's rings are just as impressive as everyone thinks they are.Saturn rings are made of a few million pieces of ice, dust, and rock. Some of these particles are as small as a grain of salt, and some are as large as houses. These rock and ice goats are said to be pieces of comets, asteroids, or even moons that were shattered by Saturn’s strong gravity before reaching the planet (2).Those rings are made up of dust, rock, and ice accumulated from passing comets, meteorite impacts on Saturn’s moons, and the planet’s gravity pulling material from the moons.20 sept 2022 ... Saturn's rings are made up of dust, ice and pieces of rock. Some pieces are as tiny specks, and some are as large as mountains! They orbit ...narrow region in Saturn's planetary ring system where the density of ring particles is high; Voyager discovered that the rings visible from Earth are actually composed of tens of thousands of ringlets. D ring. collection of very faint, thin rings, extending from the inner edge of the C ring down nearly to the cloud tops of Saturn; this region ...7.8: Planetary Rings. Compare the major rings of Saturn and explain the role of the moon Enceladus in the formation of the E ring. Explain how the rings of Uranus and Neptune differ in composition and appearance from the rings of Saturn. Describe how ring structure is affected by the presence of moons. In addition to their moons, all four of ...May 12, 2022 · What is Saturn made of? Saturn’s atmosphere is composed of 96% hydrogen and 4% helium, ... Saturn's rings extend up to 175,000 miles (282,000 km) from the planet, yet are razor thin, with a ... Saturn rings are made of a few million pieces of ice, dust, and rock. Some of these particles are as small as a grain of salt, and some are as large as houses. These rock and ice goats are said to be pieces of comets, asteroids, or even moons that were shattered by Saturn’s strong gravity before reaching the planet (2).Jupiter and Saturn only:--interior is mostly liquid or metallic hydrogen--composed mostly of hydrogen and helium Uranus and Neptune only:--blue color because of methane--composed mostly hydrogen compounds All four jovian planets:--approximately 10 Earth-mass core--orbited by rings of ice and rock--magnetic field stronger than Earth's- …During that first extended mission, the spacecraft made 60 additional orbits of Saturn, 26 flybys of Titan, seven of Enceladus, and one each of Dione, Rhea and Helene. The Equinox mission allowed for observations of Saturn's rings as the sun lit them edge-on, revealing a host of never-before-seen insights into the rings' structure. Well, this doesn’t necessarily say that the rings are made of chunks of cold, solidified hydrogen, but it’s interesting that we now know their composition to be mainly ice, that is, solid water; and as you may have learned by now water (or H2O) is two-thirds hydrogen. So ice-particles (some are big, around a few meters in size) are what ...Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like What are the moons of the outer planets made of, and how is their composition different from that of our Moon?, Compare the geology of Callisto, Ganymede, and Titan., What is the evidence for a liquid water ocean on Europa, and why is this interesting to scientists searching for extraterrestrial life? and more.Those rings of Saturn that lie outside the A ring are analogous to Jupiter’s rings in that they are composed mostly of small particles continuously shed by moons. Beyond the G ring is the extremely broad and diffuse E ring , which extends from 3 to at least 8 Saturn radii.Saturn's rings probably represent a moon-shattering collision that left debris from an icy moon too close to the planet to reassemble. Of interest, Earth is acquiring its own "ring system" of ...The concept that Saturn's rings are made up of a series of tiny ringlets can be traced to Pierre-Simon Laplace, although true gaps are few – it is more correct to think of the rings as an annular disk with concentric local maxima and minima in density and brightness.2 may 2014 ... The planet Saturn is beyond question the jewel of the solar system. Its magnificent system of rings is awe-inspiring, composed of countless ...The ring system of Saturn is divided into 5 major components: the G, F, A, B, and C rings, listed from outside to inside (but in reality, these major divisions are subdivided into thousands of individual ringlets). The F and G rings are thin and difficult to see, while the A, B, and C rings are broad and easily visible.
30 may 2010 ... Cassini observations confirm that Saturn's rings are predominantly water ice. The particles in Saturn's rings cover a range of sizes, .... What channel is the k state basketball game on today
Jupiter's ring system is made up of fine dust particles, but these are not water ice particles like Saturn.Instead the particles are likely to be rocky, made up of similar materials as asteroids ...The ring rain’s diverse chemical composition “was a big surprise,” because remote observations show that Saturn’s ring system, on the whole, is almost entirely water ice, says Cassini ...In general, Saturn’s narrow rings resemble the rings of Uranus and Neptune. There is also a very faint, tenuous ring, called the E Ring, associated with Saturn’s small icy moon …Oct 5, 2008 · The rings of a Saturn-like planet are composed of chunks of ice that orbit the planet. The inner radius of the rings is 170,000 km. The mass of this planet is 5.7x10^26 kg. Find the period of an orbiting chunk of ice at the inner radius. Homework Equations Like Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are both primarily composed of hydrogen and helium. However, the two outermost planets are somewhat different in terms of composition. Hydrogen and helium are not as abundant on Uranus and Neptune, and there is a higher presence of other chemicals. Interestingly, the densities of Uranus and …15 Interesting Facts about Saturn. Saturn is nicknamed the “Ringed Planet”. It is not the only planet with rings, but Saturn’s rings are the only ones that are visible from Earth even with a small telescope. Saturn’s rings are as wide as 4.5 planets the size of Earth put side by side. See full list on livescience.com Saturn's rings are composed of myriad individual particles which continually collide. See the chapter by Schmidt et al. for a detailed discussion of ring dynamics. A growing consensus is that ring particles are actually agglomerates of smaller elements that are at least temporarily stuck together: these temporary bodies are subject to both ...Oct 3, 2023 · Christiaan Huygens, also spelled Christian Huyghens, (born April 14, 1629, The Hague—died July 8, 1695, The Hague), Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist, who founded the wave theory of light, discovered the true shape of the rings of Saturn, and made original contributions to the science of dynamics—the study of the action of forces on bodies. Planetary ring systems are large numbers of particles orbiting about a planet in a flat disc-shaped region. A peek at Saturn through a small telescope reveals the solar system ’ s jewelry, a breathtaking system of rings. These rings consist of a large number of individual particles orbiting Saturn. The diameter of Saturn ’ s ring system is ...15 may 2023 ... ... consisting of 22 orbits passing between Saturn and its rings — that they were able to use theoretical models to determine the age and ...Sure, the planet could have shredded a passing comet in whole or in part, scattering the stripped remains into rings; or, yes, maybe an interloping object smashed into one of Saturn’s moons ...metres in size4 ; (3) the rings are subdivided into a large number of ringlets with a radial dimension ranging from 10-km down to the several metres resolution of the Voyager spacecraft's cameras;Another study combining results from Cassini, the Voyager 1 and 2 flybys in the early 1980s and ground-based telescope observations has found Saturn's rings are being drained of material as a dusty rain falls from the rings into Saturn's atmosphere at a rate that means the rings will be gone in about 100 million years. Furthermore, if the ...Nov 14, 2012 · Saturn is predominantly composed of hydrogen and helium, the two basic gases of the universe. The planet also bears traces of ices containing ammonia, methane, and water. ... The rings of Saturn. .