In: Physics
Saturn's rings are made up of billions of particles ranging from grains of sand to mountain-size chunks. Composed predominantly of water-ice, the rings also draw in rocky meteoroids as they travel through space.
Though Saturn appears surrounded by a single, solid ring when viewed by an amateur astronomer, several divisions exist. The rings are named alphabetically in the order of discovery. Thus the main rings are, from farthest from the planet to closest, A, B and C. A gap 2,920 miles wide (4,700 kilometers), known as the Cassini Division, separates the A and B rings.
Other, fainter rings have been discovered as telescope technology has improved. Voyager 1 detected the innermost D ring in 1980. The F ring lies just outside of the A ring, while the G and E ring lay even farther out.
The rings themselves contain a number of gaps and structures. Some are created by Saturn's many small moons.