• Question: Which planets have rings around them? Why? What are the rings made of?

    Asked by Maria to Ross, Robert, Hussain, Gemma, Aimee on 16 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Hussain Jaffery

      Hussain Jaffery answered on 16 Nov 2015:

      Saturn, Jupter and Neptune all have rings, but of course Saturn’s rings are the most obvious and most beautiful.

      The rings could have formed as part of the natural process of planet formation, in which each planets has twisting rings around it, like a hurricane, which eventually collapse into a round sphere.

      The rings could also have been formed after the the formation of the planet(s), either from the collision of asteroids with one of the many moons, which would have let debris of ice and use left scattered in the orbit. The rings are almost entirely made of water ice and some dust.

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