Questions tagged [planetary-ring]
Questions about rings of debris that encircle the equatorial regions of some planets.
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How long do planetary rings last?
I'm surprised that this question hasn't been asked before (here or on Physics), to the best of my knowledge. It's one that I might have asked when I was a bit younger, and one that I think other ...
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Why does Saturn have both moons and rings?
From my understanding, a ring can form around a planet when a moon gets too close to its Roche limit, and gets ripped appart by the planet's gravity pull. That makes sense to me, but I don't ...
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Could a cross-ringed planet exist?
My title doesn't do my question justice in explaining, but the kind of satellite system I'm thinking of is two rings on two separate axis, much like (if you've seen it) the film 'Treasure Planet' ...
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Do/Can Ringed Stars Exist?
The other night, while playing Elite: Dangerous, I came across a rather strange celestial body - one I never imagined possible.
It was a Brown Dwarf star with a very large ring.
Is something like ...
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Are there any planetary ring system other than "Phoebe ring" not aligned to the equatorial plane?
Continuation of: Is it possible for planetary rings to be perpendicular (or near perpendicular) to the planet's orbit around the host star?
The answers discussed about Uranian ring system and how ...
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Difference between "planetary ring" and "circumstellar disk"?
Related: Do/Can Ringed Stars Exist?
Is there any particular difference, in behavior or properties, between a planetary ring system and a circumstellar disk? Or is the only real difference a matter of ...
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Will Saturn's rings become a moon?
Planets form from disks of matter orbiting around a star; some moons form from disks of matter orbiting planets. If this were going to happen around Saturn, approximately how much time would it take?
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Do planetary rings have geometric bounds?
Are there any bounds on where a planetary ring can form and maintain orbit relative to the planet?
Do they have to be in a circular equatorial orbit?
Is there a min or max altitude, say with respect ...
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Can a star have a ring system?
I often hear about planetary ring systems, and even some moons might have them, but how about stars? Can a star also have rings?
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What are those blobs in each of the two bright rings of Neptune shown in the new JWST image?
What is this bright blue object taken by the Webb telescope? includes the new JWST infrared image of Neptune and Triton. The disk of Neptune shows interesting features but I'm drawn to Neptunes's ...
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Size of Saturn's ring material
How big are the chunks of rock ice that make up Saturn's rings? Are there many objects larger than pebble size?
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Is there, in fact, any close-up photography of Saturn's rings, showing individual pebbles/rocks?
After reading this excellent but difficult answer, https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/a/18407/13071
I've been thinking how difficult it is to get a sense of the distance between and the size of ...
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