Saturn's Rings Are Disappearing - And James Webb Will Help Find Out How Much They Have Left

Since the 1980s, scientists have known that Saturn's icy inner rings are gradually being destroyed in its upper atmosphere. The process goes at such a speed that every day water flows from the rings to the gas giant through the Olympic basin. But until now, scientists have not been able to calculate how fast these rings disappear - and, accordingly, to know when they will disappear completely.

But here the James Webb Space Telescope comes to the rescue. His team with the Keck Observatory in Hawaii going conduct long-term observations of the planet. The telescope will help track the rate of "ring rain" for the entire Saturn season - or about 7 Earth years.

In 2017, the Cassini space probe made 22 revolutions around the planet before entering the atmosphere of Saturn (and destroying itself). During this time, he helped to find out that every second from 400 to 2800 kilograms of freezing rain falls from the rings, which heats the upper atmosphere of the planet.

Now the average life expectancy of the rings is considered to be 300 million years, but the full range is quite large: from 100 million to 1.1 billion years.

In the 19.5 years it takes Saturn to make a complete revolution around the Sun, the planet turns towards the star and turns away from it - and this movement is repeated by the rings. Scientists believe that the position affects the amount of ice precipitation: when the rings are tilted towards the Sun, the amount of rain increases.

In the next 7 years, scientists will study the release of hydrogen molecules in the upper atmosphere of Saturn. The numbers increase sharply when a small amount of ice from the rings enters the atmosphere, but decrease during heavy rains. Watching these releases over a full season can help determine exactly how much ice the rings lose during that time.