Among the general enthusiasm that gripped scientists at the beginning of the 17th century in connection with stunning discoveries, one of them went almost unnoticed. In 1610, Kepler received from his great Italian colleague an anagram that read: “I observe the most distant triple planet...”. At the end of 1610, Galileo wrote to one of his correspondents: “I found a whole courtyard with two servants of the Old Man (Saturn); they support him in the procession and do not leave his sides.” And suddenly these satellites... disappeared, at least from the field of view of the telescope. Amazed, Galileo looked at the sky again and again, but did not see them. Only Huygens in The Hague, 45 years after Galileo's first observations, managed to understand to some extent the mystery of Saturn. Comparing his own and other people's observations, he came to the conclusion that the “satellites” discovered by Galileo were simply the ears of a thin, flat ring, almost continuous, inclined to the plane of the ecliptic.

Therefore, it can be seen from Earth in different ways. Twice during a Saturnian year, the ring can be positioned so that its plane becomes parallel to the line of sight. The ring is not visible from the edge; it is very thin.

Saturn's ring is a remarkable object to observe even with small telescopes. Its complete disclosure or disappearance is repeated after 14-16 years. The discovery of this extraordinary phenomenon did not attract, however, special attention scientists. It was a period of great revolutionary events in astronomy. The discovery of a strange ring around Saturn sunk among them.

Some astronomers of the 18th and early 19th centuries assumed that the ring could be solid and solid or consist of a series of thin solid rings, solid or liquid. But already by the fifties of the 19th century, it became clear to astronomers who observed the ring that it could not be a solid body, but must consist of individual particles - dust particles or stones, each of which, as an independent satellite, revolves around Saturn.

In the seventies of the 19th century, the most complete study of the structure and stability of the ring was carried out by the famous Russian female mathematician Sofia Kovalevskaya. Her conclusions were soon brilliantly confirmed by spectroscopic observations. The ring, indeed, turned out to consist of many independent satellites. But where did this ring on Saturn come from?

Astronomers of the 19th century and many scientists of our time, considering the ring stable, declared it to be a remnant of the primordial material (from which the planet was formed), or the result of the disintegration of one of Saturn’s satellites, which entered a dangerous zone near the planet, where powerful tidal forces could tear it apart. It’s interesting to remember: the ancient Greeks had a myth that Saturn devoured his children.

Since the 50s of the last century, astronomical observatories, armed with increasingly sophisticated telescopes, began to note numerous changes in the structure of the ring. Some parts of it either became bright or were barely noticeable. At the same time, Otto Struve at the Pulkovo Observatory suspected a gradual expansion of the ring and the approach of its inner edge to the surface of the planet. Comparing precise measurements of the ring sizes made by scientists over 200 years, he found that over two centuries the inner edge of the ring approached the planet by 18 thousand kilometers. Modern observations seem to confirm the expansion of the ring, although the figures are somewhat different.

New information about the nature of Saturn's rings was brought by the use of powerful means of astrophysics. Back at the end of the 19th century, A. A. Belopolsky (Pulkovo Observatory) noted that the brightness distribution in the spectrum of the ring is not the same as in the spectrum of the planet itself. The remarkable photographs taken by G. A. Tikhov in 1909 using the giant 30-inch Pulkovo telescope clearly show that the ring is much “bler” than the planet. In the thirties, this issue was studied in detail by G. A. Shain at the Simeiz Observatory. The results of these studies and a number of later works led astronomers to the belief that separate parts The ring, in addition to solid particles and bodies of meteorite nature, contains ice and a certain amount of gas.

But ice in a free state cannot exist for a long time even at such a huge distance from where Saturn moves (9.5 astronomical units). Up to 11 astronomical units, i.e., up to a distance of 1.7 billion kilometers, the sun's rays must hit the ice, throwing the resulting gas particles out of the solar system. We observe such a process in which rapidly evaporating frozen gases form the head and tail of a comet.

But if the ring is constantly losing substance, then it must receive replenishment from somewhere. Outside, outside the Saturn system? This is impossible! The replenishment of ring matter and, consequently, the formation of the ring itself can only be explained by emissions from the Saturn system, powerful eruption processes both on the surface of Saturn’s satellites and, possibly, on the planet itself.

The conclusion about powerful volcanic activity in the Saturn system is quite consistent with what observers have repeatedly noted on the very surface of the planet. More than once, the appearance of bright white spots was observed there, sometimes existing for months. And later I came to the idea of ​​gigantic ejections of matter from Saturn based on completely different considerations. The study of... comets led me to this conclusion.

Scientists have determined today orbits of 573 comets. 442 comets have orbital periods greater than 1,000 years, and the motion patterns of some of them indicate that they are leaving the solar system forever. 75 comets move in small elliptical orbits with an orbital period of less than 15 years. These are the so-called comets of the family. And the remaining 56 comets have orbital periods from 15 to 1000 years. These include, in particular, the comet families of Saturn, and.

The predominance of comets with very elongated parabolic orbits led to the idea that comets come from interstellar space, and most of them only pass through the Solar System. This hypothesis was expressed and mathematically developed more than two centuries ago by the French scientist Laplace.

But she failed the subsequent exams that many astronomers and mathematicians gave her. If comets were bodies of an interstellar nature, we should observe sharply hyperbolic orbits, but this is not the case.

If you love chess, then you have probably encountered problems involving retrograde analysis. Their meaning is that, given a position on the board, one must reconstruct the series of moves that led to it. A similar problem was solved by astronomers. For many comets that had a weakly hyperbolic motion, all disturbances from the planets were calculated to find out what the orbit was before entering the region of planetary influence. In all cases, the initial orbit turned out to be elliptical, indicating that the comets belonged to the Solar System.

Accurate astrophysical research and the use of photometry and spectral analysis methods have made it possible to determine the composition of comets. The luminous heads and tails of comets consist of extremely rarefied gases (mainly hydrocarbons, cyanogen, carbon monoxide, molecular nitrogen, etc.), mainly in the form of ionized atoms and molecules. The cometary gases are undoubtedly products of the breakdown of more complex parent molecules under the influence of solar radiation. Comet nuclei must be composed of solid particles. Recently, it has been proven that the gases in comets are in a frozen state, in the form of ice, often “contaminated” with the inclusion of tiny dust.

A fact of exceptional importance was also established: comets are rapidly weakening. From appearance to appearance they become less and less bright and after 10-20 appearances they weaken tens and hundreds of times!

It became clear that comets were rapidly depleting the gas-forming materials from which the nebulous heads and tails of comets arise. Consequently, comets must have appeared quite recently in the region of the planets. Astronomers have determined the ages of many comets. It turned out to be very small: only a few hundred, and sometimes even tens of years. But how can we explain the existence large number short-period comets?

Laplace believed that they were simply “prisoners” of the large planets, especially Jupiter, who intercepted them along the way and forced them to change their orbits, which had previously been parabolic. But many features of the movement of comets spoke against Laplace. On the contrary, it seems that comets are now, in our time, born in the solar system and that they have a certain relationship with the Jupiter system, since all short-period comets are closely associated with this planet. Initially, it was assumed that they were ejected directly from the surface of Jupiter and other large planets. But then it turned out that the assumption of the ejection of comets from the surface of Jupiter’s satellites corresponds even better to observations.

Meanwhile, other remarkable features of comets were revealed. In terms of their composition, cometary ices turned out to be extremely close to the gases of planetary atmospheres and, in particular, the atmospheres discovered on the satellites of Saturn and Neptune - Titan and Triton. A number of data suggested that the large satellites of Jupiter are covered with a layer of frozen atmosphere, i.e., ice.

Many comets are accompanied by meteor showers. These two phenomena are related by at least a common origin. And the study of meteorites in laboratories, the study of their structure and chemical composition leads to the conclusion that they are fragments of the crust of planetary bodies. The largest Russian volcanologist and meteorite specialist A.N. Zavaritsky found that most stone meteorites are very close in structure to tuff rocks of the volcanic regions of the Earth. Even earlier, another outstanding mineralogist V.N. Lodochnikov came to the conclusion about the possibility of the formation of meteorites and streams of meteoric bodies during giant terrestrial eruptions.

The lifetime of meteor showers also turns out to be no more than several hundred or thousand years. The nature of the orbits suggests that the meteor particles belong to the solar system and undoubtedly formed within it. This means that the meteor showers that we are now observing must be of very recent origin.

The association of meteor showers with comets is further evidence of the volcanic or explosive origin of small solar system bodies. Any eruption must be accompanied by the release of enormous quantities of ash and sand, which will form meteor showers in the solar system.

These were the grounds that formed the basis of the assumption that the ring of Saturn is of a comet-meteorite nature. But why, in only one particular case with Saturn, did nature not skimp on a ring for the planet? This is wrong. Clouds consisting of comets and meteorite bodies, that is, rocks and ash particles, should also revolve around Jupiter. An eruption on a satellite of Jupiter must give the substance a speed of 5-7 kilometers per second in order to form a new comet. But significantly more stones and particles will have lower velocities; Jupiter will hold them with its gravity and gather them around itself in the form of a ring.

Where is it? After all, near Jupiter we do not observe such a bright and noticeable formation as the ring of Saturn. The thing to keep in mind here is that even if Jupiter had a ring as massive as Saturn's, we wouldn't see anything like what we see on Saturn. The fact is that the plane of Saturn’s equator is inclined to the ecliptic (i.e., the plane of motion of the planet) by 28°, which is why we can see the ring “opened,” while Jupiter’s inclination is only 3° and, therefore, the ring of Jupiter is We are always visible from the edge (just as it happens during periods of “disappearance”). When, as a result of the movement of Saturn and the Earth, we find ourselves close to the plane of the ring, it disappears; the ears are not visible, and on the planet’s disk along the equator there is a dark stripe - the “ring shadow”.

To be continued.

P.S. What else are British scientists thinking about: that, sooner or later, people will manage to colonize other planets of our solar system. And then on the surface of Saturn or Jupiter some kind of water deferrization station will be quite common. But for now it all sounds like science fiction.

I like to watch in the evenings starry sky. Perhaps that is why astronomy is one of my favorite sciences. My greatest interest is in the study of planets, and now I know many of their secrets. And now I want to tell you one of them.

Saturn is the planet that has the brightest rings

From astronomy textbooks everyone knows that there are 8 planets in the solar system. Latest 4 planets have rings from the Sun:

  • Jupiter;
  • Saturn;
  • Uranus;
  • Neptune.

Main Saturn is distinguished by its relatively large, beautiful and bright rings. Their radiance was noticed by the ancient Assyrians back in the 7th century BC. e. The Greeks named the planet after the god of the harvest Kronos, the Romans renamed it Saturn.

Did you know that the rings of the planet first sawin 1610 by Galileo Galilei. He made a sketch of what he saw, but still did not understand what it was. It was supplemented in 1655 by the Dutch physicist Huygens. He proved that there are several giant rings around Saturn. It has already been proven that there are 7 of them and they are all different. For example:

  • ring A is transparent and transmits light;
  • ring B is very dense, but even more transparent;
  • the D ring is generally invisible through a telescope.

Why are these rings so bright? Yes because made of ice which is great reflects sunlight. All rings shimmer and shimmer. They spread out very widely. These shining “things” would hardly fit between the orbits of the Earth and the Moon. And the thickness of each is equal to the height of a two-story house.

Features of Saturn

This 5 planet from the Sun. It is unique and unlike any other. I would like to briefly describe its features:

  • this is a huge sphere that rotates around its axis and at the same time changes its shape. It can be compared to pizza dough that is tossed upward. During rotation, the planet becomes flat and stretches out on the sides;
  • the planet is practically has no density. It is the only one among all that has less density than water;
  • Saturn seems to be bloated, it Most of it is occupied by different gases. For example, if you placed this planet above the ocean, it would never sink, but would always stay afloat.

These are incredible facts for people, but they are true.

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  • Space, Koshevar D., Mysterious and vast space has always attracted the attention of people. After all, it contains countless nebulous galaxies and ominous black holes, colorful planets and blazing stars,... Category:

Saturn is a large celestial body located in sixth place from the Sun. This ringed planet has been known since ancient times. Saturn is one of the giant planets that make up the solar system.

General information

The ringed planet is 1.43 billion kilometers away from the Sun. This distance is almost 9.5 times greater than the distance from our planet to make a revolution around our star in 29.4 Earth years.

Saturn is a unique planet. It is 95 times heavier than the Earth. At the same time, it is 9 times larger in diameter. Density is 0.69 g/cu. cm - this is lower than that of water. If we assume that there is an endless ocean in space, Sirius could swim in it! All other planets in the system are denser than water - some by a little, some by a lot. Such a low density and at the same time very rapid rotation around its axis compress the planet more than any other. Its radius at the equator is almost 11% greater than at the poles. Such a strong compression cannot be missed through a telescope - the planet is visible as flattened, not round.

A ringed planet does not have a solid surface. What appears to be the surface from Earth is actually clouds. Top layer- frozen ammonia, below are ammonium hydrosulfide clouds. The deeper you dive into, the hotter it becomes, and the higher the density. At about the middle of the radius, hydrogen becomes metallic.

Rings

It was previously believed that Saturn was the only planet in the solar system that has rings. However, today it is known that this statement is not true. All four gas giants have rings. But it’s not for nothing that Saturn is known to us as the planet with rings. The fact is that it has the most significant, unique and noticeable rings; on other planets they are not always visible and not in any telescope.

As Huygens assumed in 1659, these same rings are not one solid, these are billions of billions of very small particles rotating in a circle.

In total, four rings revolve around Saturn - three main and one barely noticeable. All the rings reflect more light than the planet itself. The central ring is the brightest and widest; it is separated from the outer ring by the Cassini gap, which is almost 4 thousand kilometers. In this gap there are translucent rings. The outer ring is divided by the Encke strip. The inner ring is almost a haze, it is so transparent.

In reality these rings are very thin. Their thickness is less than a thousand meters, although their diameter is more than 250 kilometers. It seems that these rings are very powerful and bulky, but it was calculated that if you collect all the matter that composes them into one “heap”, the diameter of this body will be no more than 100 km.

The images that the probes transmit to us make it clear that the rings consist of many small rings, reminiscent of the tracks of gramophone records. Most of the particles that make up the rings do not exceed a few centimeters. Few of them are more than a few meters. And only a few - 1-2 kilometers. Most likely, they are all made of ice or a substance similar to stone, but covered with ice.

Scientists are not sure of the origin of the rings. There is a version that they arose simultaneously with the planet itself. In any case, the matter that makes up the rings is constantly being replaced, replenished, perhaps, by the destruction of small satellites.

Satellites

By the end of February 2010, 62 were known. Most of them rotate around their axis at the same speed as around the planet, so they always turn one side towards it.

Saturn's largest satellite is Titan. IN at the moment there is a version that conditions on Titan now are similar to those that were 4 billion years ago on Earth, when life was just beginning.

There is complete consistency between the satellites and the rings. Some of them, according to scientists, are “shepherds” for the rings, holding them in place.

Research

The ringed planet has attracted people's interest since 1609, when Galileo began observing it. Since then, exploration of the planet has been carried out from many telescopes, and in 1997 a research apparatus was launched. In July 2004, it entered orbit around the planet. In addition, the Huygens probe descended on Titan to study its surface.

A planet surrounded by rings does not have a solid surface. Its density is lower than that of all bodies in the Solar System. The planet consists of the lightest elements of the periodic system - helium and hydrogen.

The clouds of Saturn form almost This was discovered back in 1980 by a Voyager flyby. This phenomenon has not been observed in any other place in the solar system. Moreover, this cloud shape at the planet’s north pole remained for 20 years.

Saturn boasts features that have never been seen by scientists elsewhere. Their uniqueness is not only in the fact that the glow itself is blue, and the red color is reflected on the clouds, but also in the fact that the glow covers the entire pole, although on Jupiter and Earth they are only surrounded by magnetic poles. Images of Saturn's ring auroras suggest that particles charged by the Sun are exposed to other magnetic forces, the nature of which has not yet been studied.

The giant planets Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus have rings. The ring of Saturn was first discovered by the Dutch scientist Huygens in 1656, although even earlier Galileo, looking at Saturn through his weak telescope, discovered that this planet was surrounded by something. The study of Saturn showed that the ring does not touch the surface of the planet anywhere, it consists of several rings nested inside each other and separated by spaces.

The rings are not continuous, but consist of individual particles, large and small, which, like satellites, revolve around the planet, collectively forming rings. The inner rings orbit the planet at a faster speed than the outer rings. Scientists calculated these speeds, and it turned out that this is how the satellites of Saturn would rotate, i.e. In full accordance with Kepler's laws, Saturn's axis is inclined to the plane of its orbit, therefore a change in the appearance of the ring is observed in the telescope. To Galileo, these rings seemed like some kind of mysterious “ears”.

The presence of a ring on Jupiter was predicted in 1960 by scientist S.K. Vsekhsvyatsky, and in 1979 it was photographed by the American Voyager station. Jupiter's ring is very thin and consists of small rocks and dust. It faces the Earth edge-on and is therefore not visible from the Earth. Uranus has very thin rings that are not visible through a telescope. With the help of Voyager, they discovered 11 clear rings and several fuzzy, so-called diffuse ones. Research into the satellites and rings of distant planets will continue in the future and will certainly bring a lot of interesting things.

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