Saturn's rings are the most beautiful sight in the solar system and also a bit of a scandal — they may be far younger than the planet, and they're disappearing. We look at what the rings are actually made of, why they form flat sheets instead of clumping into a moon, the surprising debate about their age, and the slow “ring rain” that will eventually erase them.

You'll come away understanding why the rings are so thin, what the gaps in them mean, why we might be lucky to be alive while they exist, and how a spacecraft's final dive settled some very old questions.

Talking Science is sponsored by Kinsoft. Visit www.kinsoft.com.au

Further reading: NASA Cassini mission science pages; “Saturn's Rings” overview at the Planetary Society; NASA JPL Grand Fina ...