NASA scientists have discovered a massive, but almost invisible ring around Saturn. The ring is difficult to see because Saturn doesn’t receive a lot of sunlight.
The ring's orbit is tilted 27 degrees from Saturn’s main plane. The diameter of the ring is equivalent to 300 Saturns lined up side-to-side, and its entire volume can hold one billion Earths, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory said late Tuesday, and CNN reported.
CNN reported that "This is one supersized ring," said Anne Verbiscer from the University of Virginia. Photo courtesy of NASA.
The ring is made up of ice and dust particles that are so far apart that "if you were to stand in the ring, you wouldn't even know it," Verbiscer said in a statement.
Phoebe, one of Saturn's moons orbits inside the ring, and as Phoebe collides with comets, it kicks up dust. Scientists believe that the ring is created from those ice and dust particles.
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