An optical illusion during Saturn's equinox is to blame for the rings disappearing from view briefly. The next time this is set to happen is May 6, 2025.

And the event is relatively rare: Ring plane crossings — as the phenomenon is known — typically occur twice during the 29.4 years it takes Saturn to make one orbit around the sun.

The rings were divided into sections called the A, B, and C rings, and a few fainter ones labeled D, E, F, and G. Between the A and B rings lay the 2,982-mile-wide Cassini Division.

In three months, Saturn's iconic, icy rings will appear to disappear, giving you a preview of what the planet could look like 100 million to 300 million years from now.. On March 23, an optical ...

Saturn’s rings are slowly disappearing. The rings will vanish in a few hundred million years as icy material from them rains down on the planet, scientists predict.

Saturn’s rings are no more than a few hundred million years old and will only exist as they are today for another few hundred million years. Skip to content.

Ingredients for life discovered on Saturn moon; astronauts perform spacewalk 05:54. Saturn's rings will seemingly disappear from view in 2025, a phenomenon caused by the planet's rotation on an axis.

Labeled image of Saturn and some of its moons, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam instrument on June 25, 2023. In this monochrome image, NIRCam filter F323N (3.23 microns) was ...

Saturn’s rings have captivated astronomers for over four centuries. In 1610, famed Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei first observed the rings using a telescope, but he did not know what they were.

NASA image showing how Saturn's rings will appear to disappear during its equinox in 2025. NASA. The last time this was visible was in September 2009, and will occur again in October 2038.

Saturn’s rings are slowly disappearing. The rings will vanish in a few hundred million years as icy material from them rains down on the planet, scientists predict.