Saturn’s rings have been found to be heating the planet’s upper atmosphere, according to a study published in the Planetary Science Journal. The discovery was made by French astronomer Lotfi Ben-Jaffel, who used data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and retired Cassini probe, as well as the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft and the retired International Ultraviolet Explorer mission. The research found that icy ring particles raining down onto Saturn’s atmosphere were causing the heating, potentially providing a tool for predicting if planets around other stars have similar ring systems.
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