Saturn's Rings Flattest Structure Known

Really. Saturn's rings are arguably the flattest structures known to science.

Barely 30 feet think, according to recent research, Saturn's rings have a diameter of over 250,000 miles—they'd reach from the Earth to the Moon.


Or think of them this way: if the rings were as thin as a sheet of paper they still would be two miles across!

Here's another view taken by the Cassini spacecraft, a rather artistic one, of Saturn, the rings, and Saturn's moon Titan. If the rings were directly edge on they wouldn't be visible at all.


TH