The iconic image of the planet Saturn surrounded by it’s icy rings may soon be a thing of the past. The gas giant has been witnessing rain falling from the rings onto the planet at the rate of about  a ton and a half per second. This means that at current rates the rings around Saturn will completely disappear in about 300 million years.

Interestingly the rings around Saturn are not relics from the original formation of the Solar System that took place 4.5 billion years ago. They developed within the last few hundred million years. The constant ring rain caused by the charged molecules from the rings colliding with  the magnetic fields of the planet is likely to cause the rings to expire.

The degradation of the rings are based on the current shifting seasons on Saturn. The process may take longer or lesser period of time depending on changes that may occur in the future. The whole study is based on observations taking place now. However the measurements of the rings of Saturn may prove to be an interesting science project for scientists studying them over the next few decades to determine how valid this theory is.