New reports suggest the existence of Saturn-like rings in Earth’s past

A new study shows that the planet Earth may have had a system of rings similar to the rings of Saturn after absorbing and disintegrating a transiting asteroid about 466 million years ago. This ring, which is probably formed from the remnants of that asteroid and remained stable for tens of millions of years, could have been the cause of global cooling and even the extreme ice age of the earth in the last 500 million years.

According to Tekna Technology Media Astronomy News Service, this conclusion is based on a detailed analysis of 21 impact craters around the world. Researchers believe that these craters were created by the impact of fragments of a large asteroid. This event occurred in the Ordovician period; A period in which the Earth has seen a significant increase in asteroid collisions.

A team led by Andy Tomkins, a professor of planetary science at Monash University in Australia, used computer models of the movement of Earth’s tectonic plates in the past to investigate the initial location of these craters. The results show that all these craters were formed in latitudes close to the equator. This suggests that the asteroid fragments formed a ring around the Earth after hitting it and then gradually fell on the surface of the planet.

Tomkins says: “Under normal conditions, asteroid impacts can occur anywhere on the planet’s surface. But the concentration of all these craters near the equator shows that these collisions were not accidental and are related to each other. Scientists believe that the existence of these craters near the equator is the strongest evidence for the existence of a ring around the Earth in the past. Because such rings are usually formed above the planetary equator. The probability that these craters were created randomly and unrelated to each other is very small.

Researchers estimate that the asteroid that led to the formation of this ring had a diameter of about 12.5 km. After hitting the earth, the parts of this asteroid were placed in the orbit around the earth and formed a ring. “Over millions of years, material from this ring has gradually fallen to Earth’s surface, increasing the number of meteorite impacts,” Tomkins added in a university statement. Also, the sedimentary layers from this period contain large amounts of meteorite remains.”

Analysis of these meteorite remains shows that they were exposed to less cosmic radiation than meteorites today. This also supports the hypothesis of the existence of a loop. In addition, there are signs of numerous tsunamis in the Ordovician period, which could be caused by the collision of fragments of this ring with the oceans. Speaking to New Scientist, Birger Schmitz of Lund University in Sweden considers this study to be a new and innovative idea that explains some of the observations. But he emphasizes that more evidence is needed to definitively prove this hypothesis. If the Earth had a ring in the past, this ring could have had a significant effect on the Earth’s climate. Because the shadow that this ring casts on the surface of the earth could cause a decrease in global temperature. However, the exact details of these effects are still unclear.
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