Rings of Saturn
Name Distance from Saturn 's center ( km ) Width ( km ) Named after
Huygens Gap 117,680 285-400 Christiaan Huygens
Huygens Ringlet 117,848 ~17 Christiaan Huygens
Herschel Gap 118,234 102 William Herschel
Russell Gap 118,614 33 Henry Norris Russell
Jeffreys Gap 118,950 38 Harold Jeffreys
Kuiper Gap 119,405 3 Gerard Kuiper
Laplace Gap 119,967 238 Pierre-Simon Laplace
Bessel Gap 120,241 10 Friedrich Bessel
Barnard Gap 120,312 13 Edward Emerson Barnard
Subdivisions and structures within the rings -- Physical parameters of the rings
The rings of Saturn are the most extensive ring system of any planet in the Solar System. They consist of countless small particles, ranging in size from micrometers to meters, that orbit about Saturn. The ring particles are made almost entirely of water ice, with a trace component of rocky material. There is still no consensus as to their mechanism of formation. Although theoretical models indicated that the rings were likely to have formed early in the Solar System's history, new data from Cassini suggest they formed relatively late. Although reflection from the rings increases Saturn's brightness, they are not visible from Earth with unaided vision. In 1610, the year after Galileo Galilei turned a telescope to the sky, he became the first person to observe Saturn's rings, though he could not see them well enough to discern their true nature. In 1655, Christiaan Huygens was the first person to describe them as a disk surrounding Saturn. Although many people think of Saturn's rings as being made up of a series of tiny ringlets (a concept that goes back to Laplace), true gaps are few. It is more correct to think of the rings as an annular disk with concentric local maxima and minima in density and brightness. On the scale of the clumps within the rings there is much empty space. The rings have numerous gaps where particle density drops sharply: two opened by known moons embedded within them, and many others at locations of known destabilizing orbital resonances with the moons of Saturn.