Schrodinger’s Rings: Saturn to Lose Its Famous Feature Twice in 2025
The dissapearence will be purely optical. In reality, Saturn’s rings won’t go anywhere.
The complete disappearance of Saturn’s rings for observers on Earth will occur twice in 2025—once in spring and again in autumn—according to Stas Korotkiy, the scientific director of the Ka-Dar Observatory.
“Every 15 years, or twice during Saturn’s orbital period (which lasts 30 Earth years), Saturn’s rings seem to vanish. This happens because Earth’s observers align with the same plane as Saturn’s rings, making them appear edge-on,” explained Korotkiy.
“Saturn’s rings are extremely thin – only about 30 meters thick – and the distance from Earth to Saturn is over a billion kilometers. As a result, the rings essentially disappear from view, even through the largest telescopes. In 2025, this disappearance will occur in spring and autumn. At other times during the year, the rings will be visible as an extremely thin line. This rare phenomenon – occurring once every 15 years – makes Saturn seem to lose its famous rings,” he added.
The paired disappearances will happen eight months apart: on March 23 and November 26. However, the spring event will not be visible from Earth due to interference from the Sun. The autumn disappearance, on the other hand, will offer good visibility conditions. Observers using telescopes with strong magnification will be able to witness this rare alignment, the expert noted.