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SATURN'S RING MERE CLOUDS
OF STAR OUST
Dr, A. C. Crommelin, of the Roynl. Ob
sorvatory, coutributes to tho 'Daily Mail'
an interesting article on Saturu's ring, .Ho
says: 'Saturn has beou attracting un
usual attention from astronomers on ac
Bount of the iact that, tho ring has be.eu
turned edgewise to the earth and to tho
sun, au evout tbat occurs only onco in 15
years. At theso times the marvellous
thinness of the ring system is demonstrat
ed. Although the Bpan of the outer ring
is no- less than 170,000 miles, the thick
ness is estimated afc about forty miles, so
that tho system disappears altogether in
moderate telecopes when edgewise, while
in largo instruments it appears aa a beauti
ful filament of light.
'Tbe ring has always aroused iutense in
terest from the fact that it is tho only tlat
surface that we know of iu the wholo uni
verse, and rnauy mathematicians have stu
died the problem of its equilibrium. Clerk
Maxwell demonstrated in 1857 that it could
not possibly be solid; if it wore, it woul-l
immediately fall in ruins like an arch
strained beyond its strength. It is com
posed of donso jswarnis of tiny bodies, each
pursuing its owu course round tho planet,
tbe particles moving quicker aud quicker
as wo approach Saturn.
'The Iact of '.the ring being a dust cloud
Avas made' strikingly manifest on March
14, 1920, when it passed over a star oi!
tolerable brightness. The star remaiued
plainly visible through the ring, though it
lost about ninc-tontbs of its light, and als*o
appeared, mldcr. It Avas like looking at
llio sun through tho swarms ol' sootv par
ticles that compose a London fog; its rod
appearance is very familiar to Londoners.
'Even small telescopes of 3 inches or
Jess in aperture will ebow tho great divi
sion in tho rings— a gap about 2,000 miles
'wide- -where Jill the particles have been
cleared away. Tho cause of this clear
jinee is known to be tho disturbance pro
duced by the attraction of Saturn's inner
satellite Mimas, which goes round Saturn
in 124 hours, just twice as loug as a par
ticle in the great gap would take.
'Tbo fact that Mimas, which is u very
tiny eatcllite, has such u notable effect has
recently led Dr. Goldsbrough to investigate
the effect, of the other satellites,- especially
that of Titan, which is probably not nmeij
less than tho planet Mercury in v- size. Re
concludes tbat tho ring is a transitory oh
,-jcet destined to disintegrate eutirttly'ifii a
?^'?i«d which, though possibly long as \w
reckon time 011 earth, is yet very rshort com
pared with the ago ol1 tho planets.
'Somg have conjectured that the ring
particles might consolidate ho us to ud'l
one or more moons to tho already numer
ous rntimie ol1 Saturn. T(: seems, however,
that, the tendency ifi rot her for thorn to
sculler (ban to unito; they way fprend
through the gy stem ol! satellites in, a mnn
ner recailiutf, though on a smaller swle,
the partifijes round the suu that form tht»
xodincal light.
',j,f,Patyrn is evflv io be n habitable
world tbe disappearance of the ring wonl-1
bo a sn'ntfaavuutai?c; at present it eaue-a
long-enduring obscurations of the mm ov
large tracts of the planet '« uuvl'anp, nn\
Bunshiue oa Saturn is at beet t-o l'coblo that
nono of it can be BDargtL' ' ''
. ? :? ? '??? ?.';- . \
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