How old are Saturn’s rings? Study suggests they could be as old as the planet

Saturn, as seen from the Cassini spacecraft. Picture: Nasa/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/AP

New research suggests that Saturn’s rings may be older than they look, possibly as old as the planet.

Instead of being a youthful 400 million years old as commonly thought, the icy, shimmering rings could be about 4.5 billion years old just like Saturn, a Japanese-led team reported Monday.