An Optical Illusion Has Been Tricking Everyone About the Size of Saturn’s Rings for Centuries

Look at this image of Saturn . Can you see the biggest ring ? Are you sure ?

Saturn ’s rings have always had something of an aviation of mystery — but astronomers had at least been fair confident in their observations of those rings and their relative size . The brightest and most opaque sections were assumed to be the largest , while the parts that were dimmer and more transparent were assumed to be sparser . Thenresearchers see out how to count those rings , and found something surprising .

It ’s not as simple as stacking everything on a scale . Rather , researcher had to come up with a formula to get measurements of coiling density wave taken by NASA ’s Cassini foreign mission from at heart of the hoop , to get a serial publication of system of weights . Then they compared the heavier - looking parcel of the ring with the lighter ones . They found that , although portion of the ring certainly looked less transparent and well bright than their surroundings , their weight was more or less the same throughout .

Starship Test 9

What ’s go on here ? Although researchers are fairly comfortable pointing to the fact that it is an conjuring trick , the cause of it remains unclear . What is much clearer is that it ’s not just about doughnut size , it ’s also about eld . The estimates of the age of Saturn ’s rings have been based in a tumid part on their size . Now those may have to be revised , perhaps by quite a lot .

When all the interplanetary dust has settled , NASA estimatesthat the historic period estimate could drop from somewhere in the billions to closelipped to a comparatively youthful span hundred million years .

Top image : A down eyeshot of Saturn ’s ring / NASA / JPL - Caltech / Space Science Institute / G. Ugarkovic ; Middle image : elaborated cross - section of Saturn ’s tintinnabulation / NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute

Lilo And Stitch 2025