Saturn reveals largest known planetary ring

摘要

A newly discovered planetary ring can run circles around all the others. The gossamer band of dust encircles Saturn and has a measured diameter of about 24 million kilometers, or 200 times the diameter of the planet. Calculations indicate that the ring's diameter could even reach 36 million kilometers.rnThe band is the largest known planetary ring in the solar system, researchers reported October 6. The findings also appear in the Oct. 22 Nature.