A distant planet has rings so large it makes Saturn look like a child's toy. But, until now, scientists have been baffled about how the enormous rings keep from self-destructing. The answer: spin.

New research reveals more about why Saturn's large moon tilts, a puzzle that has intrigued scientists for decades.

Saturn's bulk rotation period is not expected to have changed appreciably over the past few decades, ... A. Windy clues to Saturn's spin. Nature 460, 582–583 (2009). https: ...

Astronomers have suspected before that Saturn’s axial tilt comes from gravitational interactions with its outer companion, Neptune, because Saturn’s tilt precesses, like a spinning top, at nearly the ...

Saturn's tilt precesses — that is, shifts over time, much like how a spinning top leans back and forth before it falls over — at nearly the same rate as the orbit of Neptune. This link is due ...

These images of Saturn's rings spinning gently around the planet were taken by Voyager 2 in 1981. Its twin, Voyager 1, had passed the gas giant a few months earlier.

“Saturn is a spinning top, and how quickly that spinning top is rotating is in sync with how quickly Neptune’s orbit is spinning around,” Brynna Downey, ...

Saturn's rings could have been formed by a missing moon that smashed into the planet around 160 million years ago, scientists believe. The absent moon, called Chrysalis, might also explain why the ...