Usually when you think of Saturn, the first thing that you think of is its large rings. Saturn’s rings are composed of different particles, such as water, ice and dust. For a long time, scientists have not known when these rings were formed.

We know that Saturn is about 4.5 billion years old, about the same age as the Solar System.

Nasa’s Cassini spacecraft, launched in 1997, has collected detailed images of Saturn’s rings and its moons. Cassini’s data analysis showed scientists that the rings’ age was estimated to be about 400 million years.

But a recent study from researchers at the Institute of Science in Tokyo, Japan suggests that the rings might be much older than what has been thought. Data shows that the rings could be billions of years old! To reach this conclusion, they used computer modeling to look at when the rings might have formed and discovered that the rings might have been made 4.5 billion years ago, at the same time as the formation of Saturn. It also revealed that the rings of Saturn are resistant to space pollution.

Starting in March 2025, Saturn’s rings will not be easily observable from the Earth’s perspective. This is because Saturn’s axis is tilted and the rings will appear as a line. However, in late 2025 or early 2026, Saturn will rotate back towards us and its rings will be visible again.