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A planetary ring is a ring of dust and other small particles orbiting around a planet in a flat disc-shaped region. The most spectacular and famous planetary rings are those around Saturn, but the other three gas giants of the solar system (Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune) possess ring systems of their own. Two bodies with a slight difference in mass orbiting around a common barycenter. ...
The eight planets and three dwarf planets of the Solar System. ...
The full set of rings, as photographed by the Cassini spacecraft on September 15, 2006 (brightness has been exaggerated in this image). ...
Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 140 kPa Hydrogen >93% Helium >5% Methane 0. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
Major features of the Solar System (not to scale; from left to right): Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, the asteroid belt, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth and its Moon, and Mars. ...
Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 70 kPa Hydrogen ~86% Helium ~14% Methane 0. ...
Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 120 kPa Hydrogen 83% Helium 15% Methane 1. ...
Atmospheric characteristics Surface pressure ≫100 MPa Hydrogen - H2 80% ±3. ...
Overview The origin of planetary rings is not precisely known, but they are thought to be unstable and dissipate over the course of tens or hundreds of millions of years. As a result, current ring systems must be of modern origin, possibly formed of debris from a moon that suffered a large impact or was disrupted by the parent planet's gravity when it passed within the Roche limit. A natural satellite is an object that orbits a planet or other body larger than itself and which is not man-made. ...
The Roche limit, sometimes referred to as the Roche radius, is the distance within which a celestial body held together only by its own gravity will disintegrate due to a second celestial bodys tidal forces exceeding the first bodys gravitational self-attraction. ...
The composition of ring particles varies; they can be either silicate or icy dust. Larger rocks and boulders can also be present.
Sometimes rings will have "shepherd" moons, small moons that orbit near the outer edges of rings or within gaps in the rings. The gravity of shepherd moons serves to maintain a sharply defined edge to the ring; material that drifts closer to the shepherd moon's orbit is either deflected back into the body of the ring, ejected from the system, or accreted onto the moon itself. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1022x932, 27 KB) Summary Original Caption Released with Image: This spectacular image shows Prometheus (at left) and Pandora (at right), with their flock of icy ring particles (the F ring) between them. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1022x932, 27 KB) Summary Original Caption Released with Image: This spectacular image shows Prometheus (at left) and Pandora (at right), with their flock of icy ring particles (the F ring) between them. ...
Prometheus (proe-mee-thee-us, Greek Î ÏομηθÎας) is a moon of Saturn. ...
Pandora (pan-dor-a, Greek ΠανδώÏα) is a moon of Saturn. ...
Adjectives: Saturnian Atmosphere [3] Scale height: 59. ...
Close up view of Prometheus and the F Ring Categories: Astronomy stubs | Saturn ...
Gravity is a force of attraction that acts between bodies that have mass. ...
Several of Jupiter's small innermost moons, namely Metis and Adrastea, are within Jupiter's ring system and are also within Jupiter's Roche limit. It is possible that these rings are composed of material that is being pulled off of these two bodies by Jupiter's tidal forces, possibly facilitated by impacts of ring material on their surfaces. A moon inside the Roche limit is held together only by its mechanical strength rather than by its gravity, and so loose material on its surface would simply "fall off" to join the rings. Atmospheric pressure 0 kPa Metis (mee-təs, IPA: , Greek Μήτις), or Jupiter XVI, is the innermost member of the Jupiters small inner moons and thus Jupiters innermost moon. ...
Atmospheric pressure 0 kPa Adrastea (IPA: , ad-ra-stee-a, Greek ΑδÏάστεια) is the second of Jupiters known moons (counting outward from the planet). ...
The Roche limit, sometimes referred to as the Roche radius, is the distance within which a celestial body held together only by its own gravity will disintegrate due to a second celestial bodys tidal forces exceeding the first bodys gravitational self-attraction. ...
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 after breaking up under the influence of Jupiters tidal forces. ...
Neptune's rings are very unusual in that they first appeared to be composed of incomplete arcs in Earth-based observations, but Voyager 2's images showed them to be complete rings with bright clumps. It is thought that the gravitational influence of the shepherd moon Galatea and possibly other as-yet undiscovered shepherd moons are responsible for this clumpiness. Trajectory Voyager 2 is an unmanned interplanetary spacecraft, launched on August 20, 1977. ...
A simulated view of Galatea orbiting Neptune Galatea (gal-a-tee-a, Greek Γαλατεία) is the fourth known moon of Neptune, named after Galatea, one of the Nereids of Greek legend. ...
Pluto is not known to have any ring systems. However, some astronomers think that the New Horizons probe might find a ring system when it visits in 2015.[1] New Horizons on the launchpad New Horizons is a robotic spacecraft mission conducted by NASA. It is expected to be the first spacecraft to fly by and study the dwarf planet Pluto and its moons, Charon, Nix and Hydra. ...
It is also predicted that Phobos, a moon of Mars, will break up and form into a planetary ring in about 50 million years due to its low orbit.[2] Phobos (IPA: or [ˈfoʊ.bəs]) (systematic designation: ) is the larger and closer of Mars two moons (the other being Deimos). ...
References in pop culture Shepherd Moons is an album by Irish musician Enya, 1991 (see 1991 in music). ...
Enya, birth name Eithne Patricia Nà Bhraonáin (IPA: ), sometimes presented in the media as Enya Brennan, was born on 17 May 1961, in Gweedore, County Donegal, Ireland, and is a four-time Grammy Award-winning singer, an Academy Award-nominated songwriter, and Irelands best-selling solo artist and...
See also This is a list of the named rings of Jupiter. ...
The full set of rings, as photographed by the Cassini spacecraft on September 15, 2006 (brightness has been exaggerated in this image). ...
This is a list of the named planetary rings of Uranus. ...
This is a list of the named rings and ring arcs of Neptune. ...
External links - USGS/IAU Ring and Ring Gap Nomenclature
Notes - ^ Steffl, Andrew J.; S. Alan Stern. "First Constraints on Rings in the Pluto System". astro-ph/0608036.
- ^ Gürtler, J. & Dorschner, J: "Das Sonnensystem", Barth (1993), ISBN 3-335-00281-4
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