Explained: Are Saturn’s rings vanishing?

The rings around Saturn might soon be a thing of the past.

They are disappearing.

Saturn has seven main rings and they make up a gigantic and complex structure.

These fragments are believed to be remnants of comets, asteroids, or moons shattered by Saturn’s gravity.

They are made of billions of small chunks of ice and rock coated with other materials such as dust.

Interestingly, each ring orbits at a different speed around the planet.

Scientists have known since the 1980s that Saturn’s innermost rings are eroding.

The rings are falling on the planet as icy rain because of the planet’s intense gravity.

Now the downpour is happening at such a high rate that an Olympic-sized swimming pool of water rains on the gas giant daily.

Some astronomers say rings could disappear as quickly as 100 million years, or they might be around for 1.1 billion years.

Others believe they will vanish in 300 million years.