Saturn is losing its rings quicker than expected, NASA warns

CNN ^ | December 18, 2018 | Tara John

[trebb]

Domino effect from us producing too much Carbon.....messed with Mars, which messed with Jupiter and now it’s toppling Saturn....

[Eddie01]

I never liked the rings anyway.

[I want the USA back]

I knew Trump was making those rings shrink!

[sphinx]

From the story, a sensible comment that answered my first question:

Their origins have long been debated among scientists. Some suggest it was formed around 4 billion years ago -- at the same time as the planet and the rest of the solar system -- but others suggest they surrounded the planet many years after the solar system's birth.

What this study indicates is the rings were formed around the planet less than 100 million years ago. "We are lucky to be around to see Saturn's ring system, which appears to be in the middle of its lifetime," O'Donoghue said.

If correct, yes -- we are simply lucky enough to have been around at the right time.

[HapaxLegamenon]

As far off as that is, it’s still hundreds of millions of years before the Clintons and Obamas and Comeys and Muellers and Rosensteins and Brennans of the solar system will be brought to justice.

They will actually be brought to Justice before then but probably not in their lifetime.

[gunsmithkat]

Not to worry, space faring Earthlings will have stripped the water from the rings within a few centuries for fuel and drinking water.

[EQAndyBuzz]

“SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!!!”

From Huffington Post: “Trump will be having a summit with Saturn’s totalitarian regime to dismantle the rings, saving billions of quakloons a decade. That money will be redirected to the US Space Command and the Space Command Core of Engineers to build planetary shields to protect Earth and Saturn from illegal space aliens. Scientists anticipate 5-7 billion space migrants are women and children with less than 8 tentacles and will be negatively impacted by this.”

[Tucker39]

Ring around the planet! Ring around the Planet! Don’t worry. A good detergent will get rid of it. What? That was “ring around the collar?” Oh! Never mind.

[NativeSon]

“Saturn Losing its rings, and why it’s troubling for Trump Administration”, The Hill.

[Wuli]

There are evidences of energy changes demonstrated at just about every planet in the solar system, yet we are in an age of scientific kindergaten in how current science does not fathom there is a commong solar reason for all of them.

[EdnaMode]

Haha that does sound like something they would write.

[EdnaMode]

It’s doing quite well, thank you.

[dforest]

Those Saturnese must be Trump lovers.

[mikrofon]

Like an old photograph record, that giant stylus on the far side of the planet is wearing down the rings…

[SamAdams76]

If it wasn't for all those fossil fuels being burned on Saturn, they might be able to save themselves.

What is Saturn's carbon footprint these days? Algore might know.

[rdl6989]

NASA warns

Why are we being warned?

---

That was my first thought.

[minnesota_bound]

Only more taxes will stop Saturn from losing it’s rings.

[xp38]

Ringist!

[SunkenCiv]

Heh, not hardly. If the rings are going to be gone in 100 million years, and Saturn is 4.5 billion years old, that's less than 2 percent of the age of the planet, iow, the rings are probably not very old, either.

[SunkenCiv]

Saturn's Rings Are Disappearing | NASA Goddard | YouTube | Published on Dec 17, 2018 | Scientists from NASA Goddard have discovered that not only are Saturn's rings younger than previously thought, but also that the rings are actually disappearing at a rapid pace through a process called "ring rain." Learn more about this phenomena in this animated video. | Video Produced & Edited by: David Ladd | Saturn Ring Rain Animations by: Lisa Poje | Additional Animations by: NASA's Conceptual Image Lab & NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory | Video narrated by: Jerome Hruska | Music Provided by Killer Tracks: "The Butterfly Effect" - Gresby Race Nash