How big was the object that became Saturn's rings?

[willpittenger]

If you added up all the mass in Saturn's rings and then added in whatever mass has since fallen into Saturn's atmosphere, how big of an object would you get in mass and diameter? You might want to state those in both measurements (like tons and km) and in relative terms ("the size of Mt. Everest" or something similar). <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>

 

[vogon13]

Not counting material lost to Saturn, most likely something kind of Mimasy . . .<br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[tfwthom]

Despite their impressive appearance, there's really very little material in the rings -- if the rings were compressed into a single body it would be no more than 100 km across. <br /><br /> The Nine Planets <br />OK it was the Nine Planets now The Eight Planets<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="1" color="#3366ff">www.siriuslookers.org</font> </div>

 

[brellis]

90% of the mass of material orbiting Saturn is contained within Titan, which is 50% larger than earth's moon.<br /><br />The ice and dust of the rings are fed, consumed and shepherded by the inner moons.<br /><br />The total mass of the rings is very small considering its expanse.<br /> According to this article, <font color="yellow">The total mass in the rings is about the size of a medium mass moon, and the rings are only about 10 km thick.</font>/safety_wrapper> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#ff0000"><em><strong>I'm a recovering optimist - things could be better.</strong></em></font> </p> </div>

 

[3488]

That is very true brellis.<br /><br />Titan is almost twice as massive as our moon. Only Jupiter's Ganymede exceeds the two <br />lunar masses, Titan very nearly so (1.94 lunar masses).<br /><br />Yes the material making up Saturn's rings is surprisingly little.<br /><br />The original object was probably smaller than Mimas.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[willpittenger]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>most likely something kind of Mimasy . . .<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br />Wikipedia does not have a page by that name. Could you have misspelled it? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>

 

[symbolite]

Mimas <br /><br />The Death Star moon lol <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[vogon13]

Other words with 'y' attached to convey a sense of approximation/comparison:<br /><br /><br />mousey<br /><br />foxy<br /><br />catty<br /><br />bushy<br /><br />glassy<br /><br />bariumy*<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />* <i>not widely used<br /><br /><br /></i> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

vogony*<br /><br />* not widely used in polite company <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[dragon04]

Use the asteroid belt as a guideline. Its sum total of mass is like (IIRC) 25% of the mass of our Moon.<br /><br />It's a ring larger on an order of magnitude than Saturn's rings. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>

 

[vandivx]

I suppose if somebody is looking from far away at our solar system he would see the asteroid belt as rings around the solar system?<br /><br />with my feeble knowledge of practical astronomy I suppose the pioneers are still inside that belt on their way out of the solar system?<br /><br />vanDivX <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

The asteroid belt might be detectable from it's infrared emissions, but it is very sparsly populated.<br />Dust (i.e smaller particles) is more effecient at rereadiating IR. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>