• Question: what material are the ring suurounding Saturn made of?

    Asked by JacobH to Heather, Helen, Hugh, Jane, Julian on 14 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Julian Onions

      Julian Onions answered on 14 Nov 2014:

      The rings are mostly made of icey materials, so frozen water and a few other frozen liquids and gasses, as its very cold out by Saturn.

      Although they span 1000’s of kilometers, the rings themselves are thought to be only around 10m thick – so very very thin!

    • Photo: Helen Johnson

      Helen Johnson answered on 16 Nov 2014:

      Rock, ice, frozen gases and dust. Other planets have rings too (like Jupiter) but Saturn’s are the most visible to us. The rings are believed to be pieces of comets, asteroids or shattered moons that broke up before they reached the planet. Fun fact: if you had a swimming pool large enough, you could put Saturn in it and it would float!

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