Can You Drink Saturn's Rings?
In November 2024 I was interviewed for a marvelous NPR podcast called Living On Earth about my latest popular science book, Under Alien Skies. While prepping for the show, one of the producers asked me a question that was so deceptively simple, so wonderfully succinct, and came from such an odd direction that I was immediately enamored with it.
Can you drink Saturn's rings?
After pausing for a moment to savor the question, I replied with one of my favorite responses as a scientist and science communicator: 'I don't know. But I'll try to find out.'
[Sign up for Today in Science, a free daily newsletter]
So I did. And to my delight, the nuanced answer I found is another personal favorite: Yes! But no. Kinda. It depends.
I love this sort of answer because it arises when the science behind a seemingly easy question is very much not so simple.
So please grab a frosty glass of (locally sourced) ice water, sit back and let me explain.
Saturn's rings were likely first seen by Galileo in 1610. His telescope was fairly low-quality compared with modern equipment. And through its optics, all he could see were a pair of blobs, one on each side of the planet's visible face; he referred to them as Saturn's 'ears.'
It wasn't until a few decades later that astronomers realized these 'ears' were actually a planet-encircling ring. Much was still unclear, but one thing was certain: the ring couldn't be solid. The speed at which an object orbits a planet depends on its distance from that world, and Saturn's ring was so wide that the inner edge would orbit much more rapidly than its outer edge, which would shear anything solid apart.
Astronomers came up with a variety of different ideas for the structure, including a series of solid ringlets or even a liquid. It wasn't until the mid-1800s that the great Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell proved none of these would be stable and instead proposed what we now know to be true: the structure around Saturn was made of countless small particles, which were far too tiny to be seen individually from Earth.
Further, these small objects form not just one ring but several, and these major rings are designated by letters in order of their discovery. The A ring is the outermost bright ring. Just interior to it is the bright and broad B ring, which contains most of the entire ring system's mass. Interior to that is the darker C ring, which leads down to the faint D ring that extends almost to the upper atmosphere of Saturn itself. In total these rings stretch across nearly 275,000 kilometers—two thirds of the Earth-moon distance! Despite their immense sprawl, the rings are almost impossibly flat, in many places just about 10 meters thick. Seen exactly edge-on, they look like a narrow line cutting across the planet.
But what are they made of? Observations over the centuries have revealed that the main constituent of the rings is startlingly simple: water ice! Good ol' frozen H2O is extremely common in the outer solar system and makes up most of many moons and other small bodies there.
In fact, in situ observations performed by the Cassini spacecraft—which orbited Saturn for more than a dozen years—showed that in some places the rings were made of almost perfectly pure water ice. Even better, most of the ring bits are a few centimeters across or smaller—the size of ice cubes, so they're already conveniently packaged.
Sounds great! All you need to do then is scoop up some chunks, warm them—a lot (the average temperature of the rings is about –190 degrees Celsius)—and have yourself a nice, refreshing sip.
But not so fast. This is where it gets more complicated. The spectra of the rings also show that they aren't made of absolutely pure ice. There's other material in the rings, and even though we're typically talking about contamination of less than 1 percent by mass, it's not clear what this stuff is. Scientists' best guess is that it comes from the impacts of micrometeorites, tiny particles whizzing around the outer solar system. This material is therefore likely composed of silicates (that is, rocks) or abundant metals, namely iron.
Neither of these will harm you, although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends no more than 0.3 milligram of iron per liter of potable water (to avoid a metallic taste). You'd better run a magnet over your ring water before you drink it—and you should probably filter out any silicate sediments while you're at it.
On the other hand, the rings' spectra suggest the presence of some unknown carbon-based contaminants as well. One likely candidate would be complex organic molecules called polycyclic aromatic compounds, or PAHs, which are relatively prevalent in space; many giant stars blow out PAH-laced winds as they die. One molecule that is commonly present in PAHs is cyanonaphthalene, which is considered carcinogenic. (It's unclear, though, how much exposure poses risks to humans—or, for that matter, whether this specific molecule actually exists in the rings.)
It's best to be cautious and avoid these potential contaminants by picking your rings carefully. The abundance of water ice is highest in the outer A and middle B rings, for example, whereas the C and D rings appear to be the most contaminated. So, generally speaking, it'd probably be better to opt for ice from A or B while skipping C and D entirely.
There could also be other ices in the rings, too, including frozen methane and carbon dioxide. Methane should bubble out when the ice is liquefied, and of course CO2 is what makes carbonated beverages fizzy. That might actually add a fun kick to drinking from the rings!
There are other rings, too, outside the major ones we've already mentioned. For example, Saturn's icy moon Enceladus boasts dozens of geysers that blast liquid water from its interior out into space. This material forms a faint, fuzzy ring (the E ring) that, again, is mostly water ice but also contains small amounts of silicates—and noxious ammonia—so I wouldn't recommend it.
Still, all in all, it looks like—if carefully curated and cleaned—Saturn's rings are indeed drinkable!
How much water is there in the rings, then? The total mass of the rings is about 1.5 × 1019 kilograms, which, correcting for the density of ice and the removal of contaminants, should yield about 10 quintillion liters of water—enough to keep every human on Earth well hydrated for more than a million years.
Eventually, if and when humans start to ply the interplanetary space-lanes, they'll need extraterrestrial sources of water because lifting it from Earth is difficult and expensive. Saturn's rings might someday become a popular rest stop. And, oh my, what a view visitors would have as they filled up!
My thanks to my friend and outer solar system giant planet astronomer Heidi Hammel for her help with this article and to El Wilson for asking me this terrific question!
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Fast internet is getting in the way of understanding the universe, scientists warn
The rush for faster and more widely available internet is making it harder to understand the cosmos, according to scientists. SpaceX's Starlink satellites are intended to circle the Earth and offer fast internet in regions that might otherwise be underserved. The company has launched thousands of them in recent years, with a view to covering the planet with signals. But researchers have found that the satellites are interfering with radio astronomy, getting in the way of astronomers' view of space. The satellites leak out unintended signals that drown out the often very faint radio waves that astronomers use to see the universe. The new work from Curtin University looked specifically at SpaceX's Starlink because it has the most satellites in orbit. But a number of other companies are looking to use satellites to offer faster and more widely available internet. In the research, scientists gathered 76 million images of the sky using an early version of the Square Kilometre Array, which will be the world's biggest and most sensitive radio telescope when it is finished later this decade. In that data, scientists found more than 112,000 radio emissions from 1,806 Starlink satellites. Those emissions could make it much more difficult for scientists to see the important radio signals that they rely on. 'Starlink is the most immediate and frequent source of potential interference for radio astronomy: it launched 477 satellites during this study's four-month data collection period alone,' said Dylan Grigg, who led the study. 'In some datasets, we found up to 30 per cent of our images showed interference from a Starlink satellite.' Many of those signals were not being intentionally emitted from the satellites, and come more strongly at different frequencies than expected. That could make it difficult for researchers to pick them out. 'Some satellites were detected emitting in bands where no signals are supposed to be present at all, such as the 703 satellites we identified at 150.8 MHz, which is meant to be protected for radio astronomy,' Mr Grigg said. 'Because they may come from components like onboard electronics and they're not part of an intentional signal, astronomers can't easily predict them or filter them out.' That interference could eventually keep us from understanding deep truths of the cosmos, the researchers warned. 'We're standing on the edge of a golden era where the SKA will help answer the biggest questions in science: how the first stars formed, what dark matter is and even test Einstein's theories,' said Steven Tingay, who helped author the study. 'But it needs radio silence to succeed. We recognise the deep benefits of global connectivity but we need balance and that starts with an understanding of the problem, which is the goal of our work.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data
Los Angeles Times
3 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Science and local sleuthing identify a 250-year-old shipwreck on a Scottish island
LONDON — When a student going for a run on the beach found the ribs of a wooden ship poking through the dunes on a Scottish island, it sparked a hunt by archaeologists, scientists and local historians to uncover its story. Through a mix of high-tech science and community research, they have an answer. Researchers announced Wednesday that the vessel is very likely the Earl of Chatham, an 18th-century warship that saw action in the American War of Independence before a second life hunting whales in the Arctic — and then a stormy demise. 'I would regard it as a lucky ship, which is a strange thing to say about a ship that's wrecked,' said Ben Saunders, senior marine archaeologist at Wessex Archaeology, a charity that helped community researchers conduct the investigation. 'I think if it had been found in many other places, it wouldn't necessarily have had that community drive, that desire to recover and study that material, and also the community spirit to do it,' Saunders said. The wreck was discovered in February 2024 after a storm swept away sand covering it on Sanday, one of the rugged Orkney Islands that lie off Scotland's northern tip. It excited interest on the island of 500 people, whose history is bound up with the sea and its dangers. Around 270 shipwrecks have been recorded around the 20-square-mile (50-square-kilometer) island since the 15th century. Local farmers used their tractors and trailers to haul the 12 tons of oak timbers off the beach, before local researchers set to work trying to identify it. 'That was really good fun, and it was such a good feeling about the community — everybody pulling together to get it back,' said Sylvia Thorne, one of the island's community researchers. 'Quite a few people are really getting interested in it and becoming experts.' Dendrochronology — the science of dating wood from tree rings — showed the timber came from southern England in the middle of the 18th century. That was one bit of luck, Saunders said, because it coincides with 'the point where British bureaucracy's really starting to kick off' and detailed records were being kept. 'And so we can then start to look at the archive evidence that we have for the wrecks in Orkney,' Saunders said. 'It becomes a process of elimination. 'You remove ones that are Northern European as opposed to British, you remove wrecks that are too small or operating out of the north of England and you really are down to two or three … and Earl of Chatham is the last one left.' Further research found that before it was the Earl of Chatham, the ship was HMS Hind, a 24-gun Royal Navy frigate built in Chichester on England's south coast in 1749. Its military career saw it play a part in the expansion — and contraction — of the British Empire. It helped Britain wrest control of Canada from France during the sieges of Louisbourg and Quebec in the 1750s, and in the 1770s served as a convoy escort during Britain's failed effort to hold onto its American colonies. Sold off by the navy in 1784 and renamed, the vessel became a whaling ship, hunting the huge mammals in the Arctic waters off Greenland. Whale oil was an essential fuel of the Industrial Revolution, used to lubricate machinery, soften fabric and light city streets. Saunders said that in 1787 there were 120 London-based whaling ships in the Greenland Sea, the Earl of Chatham among them. A year later, while heading out to the whaling ground, it was wrecked in bad weather off Sanday. All 56 crew members survived — more evidence, Saunders says, that this was a vessel blessed with luck. The ship's timbers are being preserved in a freshwater tank at the Sanday Heritage Centre while plans are discussed to put it on permanent display. Saunders said that the project is a model of community involvement in archaeology. 'The community have been so keen, have been so desirous to be involved and to find out things to learn, and they're so proud of it. It's down to them it was discovered, it's down to them it was recovered and it's been stabilized and been protected,' he said. For locals, it's a link to the island's maritime past — and future. Finding long-buried wrecks could become more common as climate change alters the wind patterns around Britain and reshapes the coastline. 'One of the biggest things I've got out of this project is realizing how much the past in Sanday is just constantly with you — either visible or just under the surface,' said Ruth Peace, another community researcher. Lawless writes for the Associated Press.
Los Angeles Times
4 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
‘Fantastic Four' review: It's hip to be square
'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' slots into summer blockbuster season like a square peg in a round popcorn bucket. Former theater director Mark Shakman ('WandaVision') isn't inclined to pretzel himself like the flexible Reed Richards to please all four quadrants of the multiplex. His staid superhero movie plays like a classic sci-fi where adults in sweater vests solemnly brainstorm how to resolve a crisis. Watching it, I felt as snug as being nestled in the backseat of my grandparents' car at the drive-in. This reboot — the third in two decades — is lightyears closer to 1951's 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' than it is to the frantic, over-cluttered superhero epics that have come to define modern entertainment. Set on Earth 828, an alternate universe that resembles our own atomic age, it doesn't just look old, it moves old. The tone and pace are as assured as the sight of the globe-gobbling Galactus, this film's heavy, marching into alt-world Manhattan. Even its tidy running time is from another epoch. Under two hours? Now that's vintage chic!
