Earth may have had a ring system 466 million years ago

https://www.monash.edu/science/news-events/news/current/earth-may-have-had-a-ring-system-466-million-years-ago

by geox • 2 years ago

54 26 2 years ago

monash.edu

ddgflorida• 2 years ago

It may have had, it may not have had.

pestatije• 2 years ago

someone might have rung, someone might not have

hulitu3• 2 years ago

There a lot of "stories" like those lately. Looks like failed writers who could not make their way into publishing. Instead they are creating "what if" stories.

deafpolygon• 2 years ago

It also may have had intelligent life around then, too. It might not have.

hulitu3• 2 years ago

As Monty Python once said: "And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space, 'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth."

ck2• 2 years ago

If we ever meet any aliens with both FTL ships and a SGL telescope, they are going to have some amazing photos to show us.

(now there's a sci-fi plot, feel free to steal that one)

unkeptbarista• 2 years ago

There is such a sci-fi plot. Unfortunately, I don't recall the story's title or the author. What I do recall was the use of gravitational lensing (a neutron star) to observe an alien world in the years just before the alien's home star went nova.

senkora• 2 years ago

I really want to see an artist’s rendition of what this would’ve looked like from the surface.

jjtheblunt• 2 years ago

ask copilot or midjourney or ... ?

tiborsaas• 2 years ago

You are in luck :)

https://www.cnet.com/culture/if-earth-had-rings-like-saturn-...

rob74• 2 years ago

That doesn't look right... if the rings were around the Equator, why are they perpendicular to the surface in a picture of the US Capitol?!

Robelius• 2 years ago

I recommend a video by Joe Scott[1] that explores this What If scenario. He created renders showing what rings may look like from Earth and from Space. He also went into details such as how seasons may have been impacted, or how the night sky wouldn't be as dark because of the sun's reflections.

[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUztyRYQ5iU

while_true_• 2 years ago

At the rate we are going with quantities of satellites and orbiting space junk we just might get new rings due to the Kessler Syndrome

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome

Aeium2• 2 years ago

There is a disproportionate amount of LEO satellites in polar orbits. Particularly morning time sun-synchronous polar orbits.

If everything in that orbit (the most crowded one) starts kessler syndroming it up, I think all the junk would mostly stay in polar orbits?

Can any orbital dynamics experts confirm? I was kind of just adjacent to that area in a job previously.

Vecr• 2 years ago

Probably? I don't think masscons are big enough of an influence, but what timescales are you talking about?

yencabulator• 2 years ago

The Starlink satellites have a design lifespan of about 5 years and will reenter the atmosphere relatively quickly even if not actively maneuvering, simply by virtue of being so close to Earth.

hulitu3• 2 years ago

Earth may have had a ring system 466 million years ago

The pigs may have flown 466 million years ago. /s

compsciphd• 2 years ago

no one channeling beyonce? that's how you know this isn't reddit. :)

jherico2• 2 years ago

Yes! It says the rings would have caused a cooling effect. Vindication that my mad science plan of giving the Earth an artificial ring system to combat climate change is viable!

sliken• 2 years ago

So how many years of cooling does blowing up the moon give us?

GenerocUsername2• 2 years ago

The moon is pretty reflective... If the rings were oriented just right it might actually mirror lots of light that would have missed earth and bounce it down to ground. Possible it would heat the earth.

jherico2• 2 years ago

My suggestion is not to blow up the moon, but to launch payloads from earth via nuclear pulse propulsion containing extremely low albedo material, like coal dust, and create an artificial ring that way.

Earth may have had a ring system 466 million years ago

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