Take Notes Tucson

The Galilean moons. From left to right, in order of increasing distance from Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto.

Our Solar System!

The Incredible Rings Of Uranus, Jupiter And Neptune

“It’s thought that these rings formed by organic compounds from either colliding, destroyed moons or ejecta via the extant moons. The small, innermost moons of Neptune and Jupiter shepherd their great, dusty rings. Contrariwise, Uranus’ rings simply are, consisting of mostly rocks up to 20 meters in size.”

We typically think of Saturn as our Solar System’s ringed world, thanks to its huge, glorious rings spanning nearly three times the diameter of the planet from tip-to-tip. But the other three gas giant worlds have their own impressive ring systems, with Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune boasting four, thirteen and five rings, respectively. While Neptune and Jupiter’s rings are exclusively created and shepherded by their inner, tiny moons, Uranus has a system somewhere in between those worlds and Saturn’s, having been discovered from the ground years before the Voyager spacecraft ever arrived. Go get the full story in pictures, animations and no more than 200 words on today’s Mostly Mute Monday!