Saturn's Rings Disappear

Transcript

When you think of Saturn, you probably picture its distinctive rings, made from billions of pieces of ice and rock, orbiting around the planet.

But next month, anyone viewing Saturn through a telescope will notice something different—the rings will have disappeared!

Sort of.

The rings will actually still be there, they’ll just be hidden from our view for a while. There are two main reasons for this vanishing act: the thickness of the rings, and the changing angle from which we see them.

Saturn’s rings are incredibly wide, measuring 280,000 kilometers across, but they’re also very, very thin—just 10 meters thick in some parts.

Sometimes Saturn is tilted toward us, and we see the top of the rings and sometimes it’s tilted away from us, and we see the underside.

But, roughly every 15 years, we face the rings side-on, and because they’re so thin, the rings become almost invisible. The rings will start becoming more visible again later this year, but to see them at their best, you’ll need to wait for Saturn to reach its maximum tilt again.

That last happened in 2017. The bad news? It’s not due to happen again until 2032!

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Teaching overview

Learning points

Saturn’s rings will temporarily disappear from view later this year.
The rings will be hard to see because we’ll be looking at them edge-on.
Saturn’s rings are 280,000 kilometers across, but some parts are just 10 meters thick.

Curriculum keywords

Saturn
orbit
astronomy

Spark a discussion

What are Saturn’s rings made of?
Why will they temporarily disappear from view later this year?
Until when will we have to wait for the best view of Saturn’s rings, and why?

Classroom Resources

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Video Viewing Guide

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Make Your Own Science Episode

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Language and Literacy Activities

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Saturn's Rings Disappear

Transcript

Teaching overview

Learning points

Curriculum keywords

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Spark a discussion

Classroom Resources

Video Viewing Guide

Make Your Own Science Episode

Language and Literacy Activities

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