Re:When Earth Had Rings
by sandworm101 on Sunday October 06, 2024 @08:42AM
(#41756741)
There isnt nearly enough mass up there in all the foreseeable sat constellations. They need enough collective mass to overcome the extreem orbital inclinations/speeds we use for sats. For a visible ring to form, we would have to send billions of sats into high/slow orbits and then just forget about them for millions of years. Even then, they would likely form into mini moons first before those moons eventually broke up into rings.
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I had to laugh thinking that we (or some alien race) might come across a ringed planet only to find its rings are made of orbital space junk from a long-dead species that once flourished on the planet.
This made me consider what sort of orbital archeology would take place. I imagine it would be a gold mine for anyone trying to study that civilization, and attempting to snatch pieces out of orbit would be a huge focus.
Re:When Earth Had Rings
by jareklupinski on Sunday October 06, 2024 @10:59AM
(#41757577)
hopefully the sight encourages them from leaving their own waste behind