Owners of Planets with Rings, Take Note!

Lady Eruwaedhiel · **Posted:** September 8th, 2011, 1:15 pm

I think this could classify as geography, but anyone feel free to move it if there's another better location.

I thought I'd see if anyone was interested in this photo:

In the Shadow of Saturn

I know some of the scifi writers probably have planets with rings, so I went and posted this over there first. Then at Suiathon's suggestion I brought it over here. The information provided with the photo came as a surprise to me, particularly the fact that the night side is partially lit by the rings. Rather reminds me of a video I saw this morning about solar lights in the Philippines consisting of holes in the ceiling, into which you insert a plastic bottle filled with water and a bit of chlorine. Viola! Added light.

So?

Andrew Amnon Mimetes · **Joined:** May 14th, 2010, 4:43 am **Posts:** 4458

Hrm. Interesting

I wonder how this would affect a planet like Enderion/Jupiter, where the rings are barely noticeable? I guess it would just be a lot milder.

Awesome photo

eru

Elanhil · **Posted:** September 9th, 2011, 8:00 am

Very, very interesting. Menbie's rings are about the size of the space between the first huge set of rings to the next small lonesome ring, (the blank space where the pale blue dot is). They are about that distance from the planet, too. (to scale) So, needless to say, Menbie is not as affected by the rings as Saturn is, but I suppose the rings serve sort of as a replacement for a moon...I imagine they would go in stages and get brighter and darker etc.

Elanhil · **Posted:** September 9th, 2011, 8:07 am

Oh, and does anyone think Rings could control tides? Right now I have them doing that, and it isn't very important, but it would be nice to know.

kingjon · **Posted:** September 9th, 2011, 9:15 am

Elanhil wrote:

Oh, and does anyone think Rings could control tides? Right now I have them doing that, and it isn't very important, but it would be nice to know.

Aren't rings generally uniform? The reason a moon creates tides is because you've got a concentrated mass (gravity source) very close on one side but not another, so it pulls the water from the sides of the world toward the front. Pulling from all directions at once would have the same effect, as far as changes in water levels are concerned, as not pulling at all. But I wouldn't be surprised if rings made sea levels at the equator constantly higher than they would otherwise be, at the expense of levels at the poles.

Lady Eruwaedhiel · **Posted:** September 9th, 2011, 1:08 pm

Interesting ideas about the rings controlling tides. Wouldn't it be neat (with faint rings) to have the night sky have bright, glowing bands across it? Like we see the Milky Way on a clear night, only brighter and closer? And more solid?

Calista Bethelle · **Joined:** February 10th, 2011, 9:15 pm **Posts:** 3095

Lady Eruwaedhiel wrote:

Interesting ideas about the rings controlling tides. Wouldn't it be neat (with faint rings) to have the night sky have bright, glowing bands across it? Like we see the Milky Way on a clear night, only brighter and closer? And more solid?

That is a fascinating idea, E!

I love it!

Elanhil · **Posted:** September 12th, 2011, 8:11 am

Ah, but my rings don't orbit perfectly at the equator. They are at a 45 degree angle, so they seem to move across the sky when viewed from the planet. That would make for better tides, right?

kingjon · **Posted:** September 12th, 2011, 11:19 am

Elanhil wrote:

Ah, but my rings don't orbit perfectly at the equator. They are at a 45 degree angle, so they seem to move across the sky when viewed from the planet. That would make for better tides, right?

Mmm, maybe, though given what little I know about rings I'm not sure that would be possible. If it is, that would indeed make for some sort of tides, though probably very different from what we know. But they would be much less than ours even so because we've got the mass of the moon concentrated in, effectively, a single point; with a ring it'd be distributed (more or less) evenly around the planet. (See also Niven's Ringworld concept.)

Elanhil · **Posted:** September 13th, 2011, 8:03 am

Rings orbit generally around the magnetic field, which is not necessarily the same as the axis of rotation, so yes, it is very plausible.

Owners of Planets with Rings, Take Note!

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