Planetary rings that surround Saturn, Neptune and Uranus were formed four billion years ago when large objects passed very close to planets and got destroyed.
Researchers calculated probability that these large objects passed close to the planets & were destroyed by their tidal force during the Late Heavy Bombardment
Planetary rings that surround Saturn, Neptune and Uranus were formed four billion years ago when large objects passed very close to planets and got destroyed.
The study by researchers at Kobe University and Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan focused on the period called the Late Heavy Bombardment.
The Late Heavy Bombardment is believed to have occurred 4 billion years ago in our solar system, when the giant planets underwent orbital migration.
It is thought that thousands of Pluto-sized objects from the Kuiper belt existed beyond Neptune.
Researchers calculated probability that these large objects passed close to the planets & were destroyed by their tidal force during the Late Heavy Bombardment
Results showed that Saturn, Uranus and Neptune experienced close encounters with these large objects multiple times.
The team used computer simulations to study disruption of these Kuiper belt objects by tidal force when they passed by the planets
They found that in many cases fragments comprising 0.1-10 per cent of the initial mass of the objects were captured into orbits around the planet.