Rings of Saturn

The Rings of Saturn are a broad, bright system of icy rings surrounding the planet. They consist of countless particles, mostly water ice, arranged in bands, gaps, and waves.

Roche limit: The distance within which a celestial body's tidal forces can prevent a nearby body from holding together under its own gravity. Saturn’s tides help keep ring material from gathering into a large moon.
Water ice: The solid crystalline or amorphous form of water found naturally in cold environments. Water ice makes up most of the bright material in Saturn’s main rings.
Saturn ring age: The estimated time since Saturn’s present ring system formed, a quantity constrained by observations and physical models. Cassini measurements sharpened debate over whether the bright rings are young or ancient.
F ring: A narrow, clumpy ring just outside Saturn’s A ring, influenced by the moons Prometheus and Pandora. Its shifting strands and clumps display the effects of nearby shepherd moons.
Ring rain: The flow of water and other ring-derived material from Saturn’s rings into its atmosphere. Cassini detected ring material falling onto Saturn, linking ring evolution to atmospheric chemistry.
Orbital resonance: A relationship in which orbiting bodies exert regular gravitational influences because their orbital periods form a ratio of small integers. Resonances with Saturn’s moons create ring gaps, edges, and wave patterns.
Saturn: The sixth planet from the Sun, a gas giant with an extensive ring system and many moons. The rings orbit within Saturn’s gravitational and magnetic environment.
Tidal disruption: The breakup of a body when differential gravitational forces exceed its structural or self-gravitational cohesion. A disrupted moon or comet is one proposed source of ring material.
Encke Gap: A narrow gap within Saturn’s A ring that contains the small moon Pan. Pan’s gravity maintains the gap and generates nearby structures.
Enceladus: A small icy moon of Saturn with active south-polar jets that feed material into the E ring. Its plumes replenish the E ring with water-rich particles.

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