Saturn's rings in a supercomputer
Friday, August 7, 2015 - 05:10
in Astronomy & Space
Why do some planets, like Saturn or Jupiter, have rings, while others, like Earth or Mars, do not? It turns out that "size does not matter"—gas giants like Saturn are not the only bodies that can possess rings; even tiny asteroids do. According to a recent discovery of the Spitzer Space Telescope, the remote asteroid Chariklo, which is only 260 km in diameter, also has rings.