BALTIMORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 21, 2023--

Saturn’s rings might disappear pretty soon astronomically speaking, according to new research. A new analysis of data captured by NASA’s Cassini mission, which orbited the planet between 2004 and 2017, has revealed new insights into when the seven rings were formed and how long they might last. During Cassini’s Grand Finale, when the spacecraft completed 22 orbits in which it passed between Saturn and its rings, the researchers observed that the rings were losing many tons of mass per second, which means the rings will only be around another few hundred million years at most. “We have shown that massive rings like Saturn’s do not last long,” said Paul Estrada, research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, and a coauthor of the studies, in a statement. “One can speculate that the relatively puny rings around the other ice and gas giants in our solar system are leftover remnants of rings that were once massive like Saturn’s. Maybe some time in the not-so-distant future, astronomically speaking, after Saturn’s rings are ground down, they will look more like the sparse rings of Uranus.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Saturn’s rings are made mostly of ice but have a small amount of rocky dust created by broken asteroid fragments and micrometeoroids colliding with the rings. The research also found that the rings appeared long after Saturn’s initial formation, and were still forming when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. “Our inescapable conclusion is that Saturn’s rings must be relatively young by astronomical standards, just a few hundred million years old,” said Richard Durisen, professor emeritus of astronomy at Indiana University Bloomington and lead author of the studies in a statement. “If you look at Saturn’s satellite system, there are other hints that something dramatic happened there in the last few hundred million years. If Saturn’s rings are not as old as the planet, that means something happened in order to form their incredible structure, and that is very exciting to study.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

MrBeast has confirmed that he is suing the company behind his burgers over quality control complaints, while also claiming not to have received payments. The YouTube star partnered with Virtual Dining Concepts back in 2020 to launch a chain of “ghost kitchens” which would act as “virtual restaurants” producing MrBeast Burgers. MrBeast, real name James Donaldson, is now taking legal action after the virtual chain was hit with complaints from users, Bloomberg reports. The lawsuit refers to the negative feedback from customers, reading: “Customers have referred to the burgers as being ‘disgusting’, ‘revolting,’ and ‘inedible'.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter “There are thousands of negative reviews, articles, and comments from people who are deeply disappointed by the fact that MrBeast would put his name on this product.” It continues: “Because the entire business is based on the tremendous global value of the MrBeast brand, it is MrBeast himself, and not Virtual Dining Concepts, who has borne the brunt of the (justified) attacks and criticisms.” The lawsuit also claims that MrBeast has not received payments. “To be clear, while this business has made millions of dollars, MrBeast has not received a dime,” it claims. MrBeast also responded to a user on Twitter who was unhappy with their experience ordering the burger by saying: “It’s impossible to guarantee the quality of orders with virtual restaurants. Hurts my soul to see orders messed up. Sadly I can’t get out of my deal with [MrBeast Burger]”, he said. “Hence why I’m never giving up control of Feastables so I can always do what’s best for my fans. Harsh lesson to learn.” Links to negative reviews and comments from customers are also included in the lawsuit. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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