What are Saturn's ring made of?

3D ModelNoAI

Saturn is a fairly unique planet in our solar system, thanks to an extensive ring system, which looks like a crown around this giant gas planet. **What are Saturn’s ring made of? ** Today we know that the rings are made of dust and countless rocks, ranging in size from microns to meters. A significant fraction of the ring material is made of water ice. Hence, since Saturn is a very cold planet (given its distance from the Sun), the rocks in its rings are almost entirely covered with ice, as if they were dirty snowballs. The processes that led to the formation of the rings are not yet fully known. Most likely the material accumulated over millions of years due to the destruction of moons in very close orbits to the planet (therefore destroyed by tidal effects), by meteorite impacts on Saturn’s moons, and by passing comets.