Saturn's Biggest Ring Is . . . . . . . Invisible

It turns out that our favorite-ringed planet Saturn, has yet another ring - one that is so massive, that it could fit one billion Earths!

The ring, located about 3.7 million miles away from the planet, extends outwards for 7.4 million miles and has a diameter, that is 20 times larger than Saturn (180 times larger than Earth!).

The reason the ring was not spotted until recently is because it is invisible to the human eye. That's because Saturn receives very little light, so there is not much for the rings to reflect, especially one situated this far.

Also, the dust and ice particles that make up this new ring are so scattered that it would be difficult to spot even if someone was standing right over it!

However, the ring does reflect infrared light or heat radiation, which is how it was discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, an infrared Space Observatory launched in 2003.

The ring is thought to have been created by Saturn's moon Phoebe. As the moon orbits inside the ring, it collides with comets, kicking up planetary dust that has accumulated to form this gigantic ring.

The discovery of the ring has solved a mystery that scientists have been pondering over for a number of years. One of Saturn's other moons, Lapetus always seems to project two sides - one dark and the other light. Scientists are now convinced that the dark side is caused by the ring splattering dust particles on lapetus.

Prior to this discovery, Saturn was known to have seven main rings, dubbed A through E and several faint unnamed rings. The planet also has 61 moons that orbit within what is known as the Saturnian System.

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