Saturn is one of the nice physical object to gape at when you have approach to a telescope or binoculars , being big enough to get a good look at , and having a pleasing ring structure around it . In early 2025 , you will get a chance to have an even more unusual aspect : Saturn , without its rings blot out it .
Saturn will not have its classifiable rings forever . When NASA ’s Voyager investigation first aviate past the accelerator pedal giant , scientist learned that the chicken feed , junk , and rock arrive at up the rings is slowly fall towards the major planet . gauge how much time they have left , onestudysuggested they may have as little as 300 million years before they are move completely .
" We are lucky to be around to see Saturn ’s ring system , which looks like in the eye of its lifetime , " James O’Donoghue of NASA ’s Goddard Space Flight Center explained in astatement . " However , if rings are temporary , perhaps we just missed out on seeing giant tintinnabulation systems of Jupiter , Uranus and Neptune , which have only slight scroll today . "
In 2025 , you will get a kind of trailer of that far - distant future , when the gas giant ’s rings are side - on , from Earth ’s perspective .
" Just like Earth , Saturn experiences seasons , but more than 29 sentence retentive than ours . Where Earth ’s equator is careen by 23.5 degrees , Saturn ’s equator has a 26.7 degree tilt , " Jonti Horner , Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Southern Queensland , explained in an article forThe Conversation . " The termination ? As Saturn moves through its 29.4 - year scope around our star , it also appears to nod up and down as seen from both Earth and the Sun . "
While the rings spread out over a huge aloofness of about 280,000 kilometers ( 174,000 air mile ) , they are fantastically thin , measure just ten of meters thick . The solution is that from Earth , we can see the rings distinctly from our advantage item most of the time . But when Saturn is at just the good angle from Earth that the ring are side on , they " disappear " from our vantage point .
This view happens every13.7 to 15.7 old age , with the next side - on view learn place on March 23 , 2025 . After that , we will begin to see the underside of Saturn ’s rings and its south pole , another panorama we have not had for many years .
