Unprecedented Saturn Phenomenon Discovered After 40 Years of Data

Icy particles raining down from Saturn's rings are heating the gas giant's atmosphere, according to a new study that examined data collected from various space missions including NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the retired Cassini probe and the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft. The discovery could help researchers predict if exoplanets have ring systems. The particle rain was observed by the Cassini probe when it plunged into the gas giant's atmosphere at the end of its mission in September 2017.