Earth with Saturn's Rings
- Thread starter Klaitu
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Very pretty, thanks for sharing 
Wonder how much of an effect having a ring around the Earth would have upon early humans?
A lot of comments for the video state it's impossible for it to happen with the Earth (citing the Moon as one reason), is that true? What would need to be different for the Earth to have a ring?
Wonder how much of an effect having a ring around the Earth would have upon early humans?
A lot of comments for the video state it's impossible for it to happen with the Earth (citing the Moon as one reason), is that true? What would need to be different for the Earth to have a ring?
For a bit of information, see the following..
http://blogs.discovery.com/cosmic_ray/2008/09/ring-around-the.html
http://blogs.discovery.com/cosmic_ray/2008/09/ring-around-the.html
Current understanding is that Moons tend to clear out rings over time, which is why Saturn has clear spots in it's belts.
Another factor you have to consider is that the Moon and the Earth are much closer in mass than Saturn and it's moons. The gravitational pull of the moon is strong enough to pull the mass of the ocean on earth and create tides. That kind of force is going to wreak havoc on something as well ordered as planetary rings.
Another factor you have to consider is that the Moon and the Earth are much closer in mass than Saturn and it's moons. The gravitational pull of the moon is strong enough to pull the mass of the ocean on earth and create tides. That kind of force is going to wreak havoc on something as well ordered as planetary rings.
It's interesting to conjecture the effects on mythology having a ring would have, especially if it wasn't there at some point and formed over course of human history. The sky having a line, heavens possessing a bridge. Early explorers trying to follow it. Generations of children wanting to climb it.
And is there really a pot of gold at the end?
Some small moons help to keep narrow rings from dissipating.
Those moons are much smaller than Earth's Moon. Earth/Moon is really more of a dual planet. If Saturn had a moon with the same size ratio to our moon there would be no rings.
Which, following through, means that if Earth had rings, it couldn't have our big Moon - which could easily have been the case if Earth hadn't been hit and split by a Mars-sized impactor, as the current best theories suggest it did.
The interesting follow on to that is that, IIRC, without our big Moon, the tides would be a lot less significant - and some biologists suggest that big tides we have are a major factor in pushing through evolution, both in the development of life in the oceans, and in the move onto land.
Very cool video, thanks.
I don't think that would be possible. Modern humans are a very young species, about 200,000 years. The rings would be much older, let's say like the moon, around 4 billion years.
Well, as more space junk accumulates, . . .
What an awesome video! Thanks for sharing.
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Very pretty, thanks for sharing
Wonder how much of an effect having a ring around the Earth would have upon early humans?
A lot of comments for the video state it's impossible for it to happen with the Earth (citing the Moon as one reason), is that true? What would need to be different for the Earth to have a ring?
It may be, but even without a moon, it makes no difference, because as the video showed, the rings would provide night illumination.
I also found myself wondering what impact rings would have had on the mythology and cultures of ancient people... how it would have shaped our religions, etc.
if we ever have that much junk up there we're gonna have a problem.
I'm wondering what sort of impact the rings would have on space exploration.
We might of been able to still go the moon but what about the orbital work of programs such as Soyuz, Gemini and the various space stations?
What about satelites? Not sure that rings would of had much of a impact on man's early development beyound the mythological but I think mankind of the space age might of found things very different.
Would it not have a major effect on early navigation and perhaps earlier discovery of the fact that the Earth is a sphere?
Actually the knowledge that the Earth is a sphere is quite ancient. The Greeks knew it at least from 300 BC (Plato and Aristotle knew that, and Eratosthenes did the first know estimation of the figure). By the late antiquity, the knowledge was spread at least to Europe, Middle-East and India. I suppose the Chinese and Meso-Americans, with their emphasis on celestial observations, were not oblivious to this fact, too. The idea that ancient people thought the Earth was flat is actually a modern misconception.
Edit: wiki informs me that the Chinese did not know until the introduction of European astronomy in the 17th century. Funny.
Yeah, just looking at the ocean pretty much confirms that the Earth is spherical or at least curved.
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