Why doesn’t Jupiter have big and bright rings like Saturn?

Considering the similarity of the planet Jupiter to its neighbor Saturn, it is natural to ask why this planet does not have clear and bright rings like Saturn. However, Jupiter has thin, narrow rings made up of dust that only shine when there is sunlight in the background. According to new research, these narrow rings lack brightness because the large Galilean moons prevent rocks and dust from accumulating around Jupiter. According to Stephen Kane, an astrophysicist at the University of California Riverside:

The fact that Jupiter doesn’t have brighter rings than Saturn has bothered me for a long time. If Jupiter had such rings, it would certainly appear brighter to us because this planet is much closer to Earth than Saturn.

Keen and his colleague Zhixing Li, an astrophysicist at Riverside University, ran a series of simulations of objects orbiting Jupiter to test the hypothesis of a giant ring system around Jupiter at some point in history. The aforementioned simulations considered the orbital motion of Jupiter and its four largest moons, known as the Galilean moons, which are: Ganymede (which is even larger than Mercury and is known as the largest moon in the solar system), Callisto, Io, and Europa. The researchers also included enough time for the formation of a ring system in their simulations. According to this modeling, Jupiter has not even had rings similar to Saturn in the past and is unlikely to have them in the future. Kane explains:

Giant and heavy planets have heavy moons and these moons prevent the formation of rings of matter. The Galilean moons of Jupiter, one of the largest in the Solar System, would quickly destroy any potential large rings that might be forming.

Jupiter has narrow rings, most of which are dust from moons and material that may have been thrown into space by impact events. On the other hand, much of Saturn’s rings are made up of ice, possibly fragments of comets, asteroids, or icy moons that have been broken apart by Saturn’s gravity.

We know that Saturn’s moons play a vital role in the formation and maintenance of its rings, But one or more large moons can also gravitationally disrupt the rings and drive the ice out of the planetary orbit and into an unknown region. Although most people think that Saturn is the only planet with rings, rings around planets are very common even in the solar system. For example, in addition to Jupiter, the solar system’s ice giants Uranus and Neptune both have narrow rings of gas and dust.

Compared to other planets, Uranus has a strong axial deviation and its orbital axis is parallel to the orbital plane. The position of the rings of this planet is adjusted accordingly. Probably, a mass collided with Uranus and led to its axial deviation, or possibly this planet once had huge rings that caused this deviation. Of course, rings are not limited to planets. A small body with a width of 230 km called Chariklo, which is located in the orbit between Jupiter and Uranus, also has rings.

Also, the dwarf planet Haumea in the Kuiper belt has a ring. Simulations show that rings around ice masses are common due to the gravitational interaction and removal of ice from these masses.

To us astronomers, the rings are like bloodstains on a crime scene wall. When we look at the rings of the giant planets, we find evidence of the events that caused this material to accumulate.

Anyway, now that Jupiter has no spectacular rings, let’s enjoy Saturn’s rings. The Planetary Science Journal has accepted this research and is available on the arXiv database.

Why do none of the moons of the solar system have rings?

We have many strange moons in our solar system. hot and cold moons; Moons with liquids and dusty moons. One lunar planet is walnut-shaped and another is potato-shaped; But among almost 300 moons that have been discovered so far, not even one of them has rings. This is really strange.

Of the eight planets in the solar system, half have rings of dust and ice that orbit their equator. It is thought that Mars once had a ring, and according to new research, even our blue planet probably had a ring similar to Saturn’s ring about 500 million years ago, which lasted for tens of millions of years.

In addition, some dwarf planets also have rings; Although astronomers have not yet been able to understand how these rings are formed. Even some asteroids have their own rings.

While investigating the concept of ringed moons outside our solar system, Mario Socercchia, an astrophysicist at the Universidad Adolfo Ibánez in Chile, and his colleagues became involved in the question of why moons in our own cosmic neighborhood lack rings. In an interview with Science Alert, he explains:

I believe we are unlucky to some extent; Because we started observing the universe during a period when these structures no longer exist. After doing this research, I was convinced that these rings probably existed in the past.

On the other hand, the only reason we see Saturn’s rings is because we are in the right place and time. For this reason, we see solar and lunar eclipses; Because the moon is gradually moving away from the earth and at some point it will be so far that it can no longer completely cover the sun.

I wonder what mythical and epic stories we will hear from the inhabitants of other worlds about ringed moons. I mean, how will their stories and culture about the moons of the rings be different from our stories? There are infinite possibilities.

The scientists’ research has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics and is available in the archive database.

Most alien planets probably do not have day or night

We cannot yet say with certainty how much periods of inactivity and regeneration affect life. Perhaps organisms that evolved without cyclical time never needed to rest.

If you doubt it, you can look at terrestrial organisms such as cave dwellers, deep sea life, and microscopic organisms in dark environments such as the earth’s crust and the human body that thrive in space away from daylight.

Many life forms have biological rhythms that are synchronized to stimuli other than light. Naked burrowing mice spend their entire lives underground and never see the sun, But their day and night hours are proportional to the daily and seasonal cycles of temperature and rainfall. Also, deep-sea bivalves and thermal well shrimps coordinate with ocean tides.

Bacteria that live in the human gut synchronize with melatonin fluctuations in the host’s body. Melatonin is a hormone in the body that is produced in response to darkness. Temperature changes that occur in thermal wells, humidity fluctuations chemical changes, and environmental currents can all cause biological fluctuations in the body of living organisms.

According to new research, M-Earths can have alternate cycles for days and seasons. To evaluate days and seasons on exoplanets, scientists have adapted climate models to simulate the environment of M-Earths and planets such as Proxima Centauri b.

According to the simulations, the contrast between the night and day sides of the planets produces gusts and atmospheric currents similar to Earth’s gust currents. If a planet has water, its dayside is likely to have thick thunderclouds.

The interaction between winds, atmospheric waves, and clouds can change the climate and produce regular cycles of temperature, humidity, and rainfall. The length of these cycles varies from hundreds to thousands of Earth days depending on the state of the planet, But it has nothing to do with the rotation period of the planet. Although the stars in the sky of these planets remain constant, the environment changes.

Perhaps life on M-Earths evolved to match biological rhythms and climatic cycles, or perhaps evolution arrived at a more exotic solution. One can imagine species that live on the day side of the planet going to the night side to rest and regenerate themselves.

These descriptions remind us that if life is out there, it can challenge assumptions we don’t know exist. The only certainty is that it will surprise us.