What Is the Halo Sign?

The ring of Saturn refers to a wide "hat brim" around a spherical star. This is the ring of Saturn, also known as the ring of Saturn. Saturn can be regarded as a more exotic planet in the solar system. From the perspective of a telescope, its appearance Just like a straw hat, the presence of the halo makes Saturn the most beautiful of the stars, and it astounds viewers. For centuries, people have thought that only Saturn in the solar system has a halo. It was not until the late 1970s and late 1980s that successive discoveries of the rings of Uranus, Jupiter, and Neptune changed this view.

Saturn halo

(Saturn's halo)

Saturn halo refers to a wide "hat brim" around a spherical star. This is the Saturn halo, also known as

In a calculation of the mass of Saturn's B ring, scientists found that part of the B ring's mass was lower than expected. A research group found that the worst part of the B-ring was not as high quality as expected. Even the overall quality of the B ring is lower than scientists expected. Although the material density in a part of the B ring is 10 times greater than the density of the adjacent A ring, the mass is only 2-3 times more than the other.

According to the BBC website, the results have been published in the recently published scientific journal Icarus. In order to understand the quality of the B-ring, the scientists analyzed the so-called "spiral density wave". The structural mode of this wave is directly affected by the size of the halo, so measuring the structure of this wave will allow scientists to reverse the quality of the halo, just like "weighing" the halo.

An in-depth understanding of the structure of Saturn's rings will help to accurately estimate its formation time. Linda Spilker of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) states: "By accurately weighing Saturn's B ring for the first time, we are moving towards accurately judging the age and origin of Saturn's ring. solid

The Saturn B ring is the most opaque in a series of Saturn's main rings

step. He said: "The ring of Saturn is so huge and amazing. How did it come about? We cannot suppress the desire to know the answer to this question. "

Scientists focused on Saturn's B ring. This is the brightest and the least transparent of Saturn's rings.

It was found that although the transparency of the B rings varies from place to place, their substance concentrations did not change much. For the first time, they measured the mass of the almost opaque part of the center of the B ring. From a technical point of view, they measure the mass density in multiple places by analyzing the spiral density wave. These delicately structured rings of Saturn are formed by the combined gravity of Saturn and its moons. The corrugated structure in the ring is directly related to the mass concentration there.

Scientists don't yet know why substances with different transparency have the same mass. It may be related to the size or density of the particles, or it may be related to the structure of the ring.

This cutaway shows part of the structure of Saturn's main ring system. The main names and features have been marked with text. NASA

Appearances can sometimes be deceiving. It's as if foggy pastures are definitely not as transparent as swimming pools, but they are more dense and have more water.

Research on the mass of Saturn's rings is also important to reveal their age. Low-mass rings will evolve faster than high-mass rings, and they will also quickly become darker and darker under the influence of meteorite. Therefore, the lower the mass of the B ring, the younger it becomes. It may be only a few million years old, rather than the billions that are usually thought of.

"Weighing" the core of the B ring is an important step in gradually understanding the age of Saturn's rings and their origins. Saturn's rings are so spectacular that people

Part B ring has 10 times more opacity than ring A

Always want to ask, where does it come from?

All giant planets in the solar system have rings, but Saturn's rings are different. Understanding why Saturn's rings are so bright and huge is the most important challenge in understanding their formation and development. For scientists, the material density of each part of the ring is the key to knowing its formation.

Earlier studies have shown that the B-ring contains less material than scientists once thought. The new analysis directly measured the density of matter in the ring for the first time, which further confirmed this conjecture.

Some parts of Saturn's B ring are 10 times more opaque than the adjacent A ring, but the mass of the B ring is only 2 to 3 times that of the A ring. NASA

This analysis uses a new technique. Cassini's visible and infrared mapping spectrometers used Saturn's ring to point to a star behind it for data collection. Combining the results of multiple observations can reveal the spiral density wave that was not obvious.

The analysis results also show that the average density of the B ring is lower than expected. This is a very shocking result, because the transparency of some parts of the B ring is nearly 10 times lower than that of the adjacent A ring, and the quality of the B ring may be only 2 to 3 times that of the A ring.

The ring B is the brightest of Saturn's rings in sunlight

Although the mass of the B ring is very low, it still accounts for most of the mass of the entire Saturn ring system. More accurate measurements of the total mass of the ring will also be undertaken. The Cassini probe has detected Saturn's gravitational field and obtained data on the total mass of Saturn and its ring system. In 2017, in the final phase of Cassini's mission, it will fly Saturn from inside Saturn's ring to determine the mass of Saturn itself. The difference between the two measurements is the true mass of Saturn's rings. ^[4]