In these weeks Saturn has an unusual appearance: the rings seem to be disappeared. Here’s how this … Spatial optical illusion works!
Saturn He lost his rings. It is not a new spatial conspiracy theory or yet another viral hoax: even the NASA documents it, in his Apod, Astronomy Picture of the day of 29 April 2025 (photo below) A splendid image – the result of patience and skill of Brazilian astrophil Natan Fontes – Show how, year after year, Saturn’s rings seem to “vanish”. And no, it’s not that someone has stolen them.
The right inclination is … away the rings of Saturn!
It happens, in fact, that our beloved “lord of the rings” is simply rotate. Or rather: the inclination of its axis compared to the earth changes over time, and for a few weeks it has reached a configuration for which the very thin plan of the rings is completely cutting. And since the thickness is just one and a half kilometer, against a total diameter of over 280,000 km, the rings are practically invisible even to amateur telescopes.
Those who have had the good fortune to observe Saturn in recent years has witnessed the progressive visual thinning Of the rings, clearly visible in the photographic sequence published by NASA, created by Fontes, also known for its commitment in astronomical dissemination and participation in the Detect project, which monitors impacts on Jupiter and Saturn. The phenomenon will be proposed again in 2032. Then again in the 2038.
But be careful: one day they will really disappear. Not by magic, but by gravity. According to the studies of James O’Donoghue of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the rings are slowly falling on Saturn, given that the corpuscles of which they are composed are producing a dusty rain of ice particles under the influence of the magnetic field of the planet. Their end is expected In about 100 million years. A very long time for us, but short on a cosmic scale.
In the meantime, let’s enjoy the show (or his disappearance) until we can. And a special thanks to those who, like Natan Fontes, gives us glimpses of sky that remind us how small we are – and curious – in front of the universe.
