A new study revealed the reason why Jupiter does not have clear and solid rings like the gas giant next to it, Saturn, and reported that the reason for the absence of Jupiter's rings is simple, which is that its enormous moons prevent them from forming.
The study was conducted by researchers from the University of California Riverside, and was published on the arXiv website, and will soon be published in the Planetary Science Journal.
The results of the study come after the team used computer simulations to analyze images of Jupiter, taken by the NASA James Webb Space Telescope, in order to find out how the rings of both Saturn and Jupiter are formed, and also to search for giant planet rings. .
There are similarities between Jupiter and its neighbor Saturn, they are two of the largest solar planets, and are similar in their bad weather (Getty Images)
similarity and question
According to a publication on the university’s website, there are great similarities between Jupiter and its neighbor Saturn, as they are two of the largest solar planets, and they are similar in their bad weather, which makes them unfit for life, as they possess a large proportion of helium and hydrogen gases.
Another similarity is that Jupiter also has rings, like the rest of the giant planets, except that they are thin, fragile, and composed of dust, and can only be seen when illuminated by the sun from behind.
The science team used images taken by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, as they performed a dynamic computer simulation to calculate the orbits of Jupiter's four major moons, as well as the orbit of the planet itself, and information about the time it takes, in order to search for reasons that prevent rings from forming. Jupiter is like the rings of Saturn.
The study revealed the reason why Jupiter does not have clear rings similar to Saturn (the island)
According to the university's publication, Saturn's rings consist largely of ice, and some may have come from comets, which are also largely made up of ice, and if the moons are large enough, their gravity can throw ice out of the planet's orbit, or change the orbit of the planet. Ice enough that it collides with the moons.
Astrophysicist Stephen Kane, who led the research, said that Jupiter's moons quickly destroy any large rings that may form, and as a result, Jupiter is unlikely to have large rings at any time in the past, and because huge planets form huge moons, that It prevents it from forming large rings.
giant planet rings
According to the university's publication, all four giant planets in our solar system, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, as well as Jupiter, actually have rings, but the rings of Neptune and Jupiter are so faint that they are difficult to see using traditional stargazers.
Coincidentally, some recent images from the new James Webb Space Telescope have included images of Jupiter in which you can see the faint rings.
Scientists plan to simulate conditions on the planet Uranus (left) to find out the age of its rings (NASA)
"We didn't know that these ephemeral rings existed until the Voyager spacecraft passed because we couldn't see them," Kane says. "The Voyager 1 spacecraft in 1970 for the first time took pictures of Jupiter's rings, and because the rings are so thin and faint, it is also difficult to see them from Earth." using ground-based telescopes.
On the other hand, the university publication says that Uranus also has rings that are not large, but larger than the rings of Saturn, and based on these results, Ken intends to conduct simulations of conditions on Uranus to find out what the age of the rings of that planet could be, as some astronomers believe. That Uranus was turned on its side as a result of the planet's collision with another celestial body, and therefore its rings could be the remnants of this impact.
The university's publication touched on the importance of studying the rings of giant planets;
In addition to their beauty, the rings help astronomers understand the history of the planet, because they provide evidence of collisions with moons or comets that may have occurred in the past.
The shape and size of the rings, as well as the composition of their material, also provide an indication of the type of event that shaped them.