Saturn’s rings might disappear pretty soon astronomically speaking, according to new research. A new analysis of data captured by NASA’s Cassini mission, which orbited the planet between 2004 and 2017, has revealed new insights into when the seven rings were formed and how long they might last. During Cassini’s Grand Finale, when the spacecraft completed 22 orbits in which it passed between Saturn and its rings, the researchers observed that the rings were losing many tons of mass per second, which means the rings will only be around another few hundred million years at most. “We have shown that massive rings like Saturn’s do not last long,” said Paul Estrada, research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, and a coauthor of the studies, in a statement. “One can speculate that the relatively puny rings around the other ice and gas giants in our solar system are leftover remnants of rings that were once massive like Saturn’s. Maybe some time in the not-so-distant future, astronomically speaking, after Saturn’s rings are ground down, they will look more like the sparse rings of Uranus.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Saturn’s rings are made mostly of ice but have a small amount of rocky dust created by broken asteroid fragments and micrometeoroids colliding with the rings. The research also found that the rings appeared long after Saturn’s initial formation, and were still forming when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. “Our inescapable conclusion is that Saturn’s rings must be relatively young by astronomical standards, just a few hundred million years old,” said Richard Durisen, professor emeritus of astronomy at Indiana University Bloomington and lead author of the studies in a statement. “If you look at Saturn’s satellite system, there are other hints that something dramatic happened there in the last few hundred million years. If Saturn’s rings are not as old as the planet, that means something happened in order to form their incredible structure, and that is very exciting to study.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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Bitcoin’s price has crashed dramatically, amid what seems to be a broader worry in the financial markets. The world’s biggest cryptocurrency has fallen more than 7 per cent over the last 24 hours, and almost 12 per cent in the last week. Other large digital currencies saw similar falls, though not as stark. Ethereum, the second biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, has lost around 10 per cent of its value in the last week. The troubles mean that the crypto market as a whole is down 5.7 per cent over the last 24 hours, according to tracking website Coinmarketcap. Trading volumes increased sharply, too, and were up almost 80 per cent over the last 24 hours. Thursday’s drop in the price of the cryptocurrency was the biggest one day fall since November 2022. That happened when large exchange FTX collapsed, sending shockwaves through the crypto markets and leading to widespread fears. This time around, there was no obvious connection to events in the cryptocurrency market. Instead, investors seemed concern about the economy more generally, and more traditional assets were also hit by falls in recent days. Wall Street’s main indexes fell on Friday, extending declines to the fourth session on a drag from megacap growth stocks, as evidence of a resilient U.S. economy fanned fears of interest rates staying higher for longer. The three main US stock indexes are on track for sharp weekly losses as a spate of strong economic data, including a fall in weekly jobless claims, caused investors to dial back expectations of rate cuts and drove up government bond yields. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note hit a ten-month high of 4.328 per cent in the previous session and came within a whisker of its highest level since 2007. “The drivers really have been of late the rising Treasury yields and that is signaling a more risk-off investor sentiment,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth. “Investors are looking at (better-than-expected economic data) and saying the Fed likely isn’t restrictive enough yet.” Traders see a nearly 91% chance of the Fed holding rates at current levels at its September meeting, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool. On Friday, rate-sensitive big technology and growth stocks such as Apple, Microsoft, Tesla and Nvidia slipped between 0.7% and 2.8% even as Treasury yields took a breather. The communication services and technology sectors housing major growth stocks fell 1.6% and 1.0% respectively. The tech-heavy Nasdaq hit an over two-month low and is set to post the biggest weekly declines of the three major indices, down 3 per cent so far. The CBOE volatility index hit its highest in nearly three months, reflecting rising investor anxiety. Additional reporting by Reuters

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