Why does Saturn have rings when most other planets have none?

Question

The dusty hoop lies some 13 million km (eight million miles) from the planet, about 50 times more distant than the other rings and in a different plane.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8295…
Scientists tell the journal Nature that the tenuous ring is probably made up of debris kicked off Saturn's moon Phoebe by small impacts.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8291…
They think this dust then migrates towards the planet where it is picked up by another Saturnian moon, Iapetus.

Answer 1

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Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune all have rings. None of those rings are as spectacular as Saturn's, but it appears to be a common phenomenon for large planets.
There are currently three theories of how Saturn got its rings:

The rings may be remnants of the material that formed Saturn's moons, but which were prevented from coalescing into a moon because they were inside the Roche limit .
A medium-size moon might have strayed inside the Roche limit, and been pulled to pieces by tidal forces.
A moon might have been shattered by meteor impacts, and its debris might have moved to within the Roche limit, where it was unable to reunite into a large body.

Source(s):

NASA

Answer 2

"Most other planets" are the four rocky planets closest to the Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. They might have had rings in the past, but those would have been absorbed by the planets, or blown away into the outer solar system.

All of the four gas giants (Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune) have rings, with Saturn's ones being the most prominent.

Planetary rings are thought to form from the debris left after one of planet's moons disintegrates (due to collision or tidal forces). The material can also come from the formation of the planet itself - some of the material failed to coalesce and formed the rings instead.

Source(s):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rings_of_Sa…

Answer 3

Your statement is flawed.

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune all are confirmed to have rings.

That's 4 of 8.

It is suspected that the event that caused the formation of Eath's Moon, created a ring system around the Earth for a short while.

So 5 of the 8 planets (that we can actually make such deductions on) have had rings at some point intheir history.

So, most of them, at some point, DO have rings.

Go to wikipedia, and enter "roche limit" for your answer to why rings form.

Answer 4

No one really knows but I just saw The Universe's episode on ring planets, and it seems like most planets do have rings at one time or another. Its just that Saturn's is prettier and more visible because its rings are made of ice.

Like some other people said it may be because a moon got ripped apart or it was leftover from the planet's formation...but is Saturn even made of gases or liquids that can freeze? Idk. Another question I suppose.

Jupiter's ring is ethereal, its mostly dust. Neptune's has arcs and Uranus' is made of really dark rocks which is also hard to see.

Earth made a satellite ring system! So thats pretty cool.

Answer 5

Jupiter also has a ring system, as has Uranus. The rings are composed of small ice crystals and are shepherded by tiny moons into distinct rings.They are predicted to disperse over a long period of time, and gravity holds them in orbit around the great gas giant.

Source(s):

Cassini probe.

Answer 6

Saturn and Pluto are actually secretly engaged...they haven't wanted to say anything since Pluto's status as a planet got downgraded.

Answer 7

I would have thought that someone with 38% right answer would know everything.

Answer 8

Good question....!