New research reveals that Saturn’s rings are much younger than the planet itself. Photo courtesy of NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Saturn’s rings are much younger than scientists once thought, according to new research from Indiana University Professor Emeritus of Astronomy Richard Durisen — and they are not here to stay.

For decades, there has been debate about the origin of Saturn’s icy rings. But according to two new studies from Durisen, published in Icarus, the rings are no more than a few hundred million years old — much younger than the planet itself, which was formed 4.5 billion