Saturn's rings will 'disappear' in less than 2 years - The Weather Network

When that happens, those of us watching from here on Earth we will experience a 'ring-crossing event' where the planet's rings will appear to vanish.

These simulated views of Saturn show the planet as seen from Earth's northern hemisphere in March of 2023, 2024 and 2025. Credit: Stellarium/Scott Sutherland

The rings won't be completely gone, of course. It's simply that we'll be viewing them along their edge. Since the rings are only around 1 kilometre thick, compared to Saturn's 108,728 km polar diameter, they'll be invisible from our point of view.

Following this crossing event, Saturn's rings will slowly come back into view and become easier to see over the months and years leading up to the planet's winter solstice (sometime in the early 2030s). At that time, they will appear at their brightest, and then the whole process begins again.

Ring-crossings — Past and Future

Due to the relative motions of Earth and Saturn around the Sun, it's possible for a few of these ring-crossing events to cluster together. We saw this back in the mid-1990s, when there were ring-crossings in May 1995, August 1995, and February 1996.

The Hubble Space Telescope captured the August 5 1995 ring-crossing event (top frame), and then took a followup image a little over three months later, on November 17 1995. Credit: Erich Karkoschka (University of Arizona Lunar & Planetary Lab)and NASA/ESA

However, in between these clusters, ring-crossings are fairly rare events.

The last one occurred over 14 years ago, in September 2009. After March 2025, the next one after won't be seen until October 2038, which will kick off another cluster that will include follow-up events in April and July of 2039.

(Thumbnail is a composite of simulated views of Saturn in 2023, 2024 and 2025 from the Stellarium planetarium software.)

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2023-12-09 00:48:00Z
CBMid2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRoZXdlYXRoZXJuZXR3b3JrLmNvbS9lbi9uZXdzL3NjaWVuY2Uvc3BhY2Uvc2F0dXJucy1yaW5ncy13aWxsLWRpc2FwcGVhci1pbi0yMDI1LWR1ZS10by1yaW5nLWNyb3NzaW5nLWV2ZW500gEA