<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rings_of_Saturn#Formation_of_main_rings" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a> claims that Saturn's rings may be as old as Saturn itself; <a href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2002/12feb_rings/" rel="nofollow">NASA</a> says that they could be only a few hundred million years old.</p>

<p>The 4.something-billion-years-old fits in with one of the two theories of the rings' formation - that Saturn swept up material from the protoplanetary disk. The date makes sense, because there's no way the disk would last for billions of years.</p>

<p>The newer date <em>does</em> fit in with the moon-torn-apart hypothesis, which is perhaps the dominant hypothesis. The hypothetical progenitor moon could have been torn apart at any point between Saturn's birth and the present day. "A few hundred million years ago" fits in reasonably well.</p>

<p>I should add that all the theories surrounding the rings' formation have reasonable evidence in their favor, though there's quite a lot for the 4.something-billion-years theory (see <a href="http://www.space.com/23949-saturn-rings-age-cassini-spacecraft.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>, <a href="http://www.space.com/20424-saturn-rings-moons-age.html" rel="nofollow">here</a> and <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/media/cassini20071212.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>). Thank you, Cassini!</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-20T18:59:47.277Z
[Observations of the chemical and thermal response of ‘ring rain’ on Saturn’s ionosphere](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019103518302999?via%3Dihub) (Dec. 2018) models a mechanism for ring decay in 292 million years (with very large error bars). [BadAstronomer's](https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/are-saturns-rings-dying) discussion.
Keith McClary
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-20T16:46:49.720Z
2015-01-20T16:46:49.720Z
HDE 226868
<p>Saturn was formed around billion years ago along with Jupiter. After which it had enough time to form moon which can break into rings.</p>

<p>Then why is it said that Saturn's ring are of recent origin - about few million years ago?</p>

<planet><saturn><planetary-ring>
Recent origin of Saturn's rings
ruskin23
# Recent origin of Saturn's rings

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-01-20)

Saturn was formed around billion years ago along with Jupiter. After which it had enough time to form moon which can break into rings.

Then why is it said that Saturn's ring are of recent origin - about few million years ago?

**Tags:** planet, saturn, planetary-ring


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-01-20. Score: 2

[Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rings_of_Saturn#Formation_of_main_rings) claims that Saturn's rings may be as old as Saturn itself; [NASA](http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2002/12feb_rings/) says that they could be only a few hundred million years old.

The 4.something-billion-years-old fits in with one of the two theories of the rings' formation - that Saturn swept up material from the protoplanetary disk. The date makes sense, because there's no way the disk would last for billions of years.

The newer date *does* fit in with the moon-torn-apart hypothesis, which is perhaps the dominant hypothesis. The hypothetical progenitor moon could have been torn apart at any point between Saturn's birth and the present day. "A few hundred million years ago" fits in reasonably well.

I should add that all the theories surrounding the rings' formation have reasonable evidence in their favor, though there's quite a lot for the 4.something-billion-years theory (see [here](http://www.space.com/23949-saturn-rings-age-cassini-spacecraft.html), [here](http://www.space.com/20424-saturn-rings-moons-age.html) and [here](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/media/cassini20071212.html)). Thank you, Cassini!

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: [Observations of the chemical and thermal response of ‘ring rain’ on Saturn’s ionosphere](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019103518302999?via%3Dihub) (Dec. 2018) models a mechanism for ring decay in 292 million years (with very large error bars). [BadAstronomer's](https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/are-saturns-rings-dying) discussion.  

---

