Saturn’s rings could disappear faster-than-expected in 100 million years

New research shows that Saturn’s rings are dissolving faster than expected. They could be gone in 100 million to 300 million years, which is merely a cosmological blink of the eye when compared with the gas giant itself that’s already more than 4 billion years old.

Saturn’s rings are primarily composed of water and ice. New research from NASA shows the rings are being pulled apart by the planet’s gravity and magnetic field, triggering a phenomenon known as “ring rain.”

Ring rain was first documented back in 2013, but the latest research shows the effect is happening much quicker than expected — it drains an amount of water products that could fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool from Saturn’s rings in half an hour.

NASA’s James O’Donoghue, lead author of the study, said in a statement that “From this alone, the entire ring system will be gone in 300 million years, but add to this the Cassini-spacecraft measured ring-material detected falling into Saturn’s equator, and the rings have less than 100 million years to live.”