What are they made of? I wonder whether the opening footage of 3rd Rock from the Sun is accurate in that it shows a bit where Saturn’s rings appear to be made of coal, or at least carbon; they’re supposed to be “a meter on a side” according to the World Almanac–which, however, doesn’t say what they are made of.
Any info? 
IIRC from my college astronomy they are made up of little ice particles. Course I spent a lot of time sleeping in that class and got a B-, and it was a while back. And I smoked a little too much grass in my freshman year.
It might be ice particles, or was that the planet Vulcan that was made up of large frozen shlurpee masses?
Sorry, I was a criminal justice major. 
As was bluepony, I was also a bit too friendly the the bong in college.
I think that they are made up of primarily carbon combounds and ice crystals. Pretty much the same makeup as comets. I suspect that someone else will come along and answer this definitively. Podkayne, are you ou there?
Look here Saturn’s Ring System and FAQ about Saturn’s Rings. Hope this helps.
Abby
Thanks…I logged onto that second site and got the information I wanted. 
Whooo hoooo!!! Thanks for the site Abby, after all these years and still able to answer astronomy questions! I knew I was conscious for a considerable period of this time in my life.
No “Search” function was used in this monumental feat of astronomical knowledge. It was done with the remaining 462 brain cells I have left.
This, in itself, is truly astounding considering that most astronomy concepts like “What wrong turn did the Jupiter 2 make to get Lost In Space?” and “Why is the ninth planet named after a Disney character?” still astound and befuddle me.
So if you have a decent telescope, don’t wait to look at them.
This happens twice during each Saturnian year. It’s not “forever”. It’s just from our perspective we’ll be changing which side (top/bottom) is visible. You have to pass thru edge-on to do that.
Yes, early Sci-fi had them as assorted chunks, some more than a few hundred feet across, a good place for a hideout. Disappointing to find they were fairly small debris.
Well a Saturnian year is 29.4 earth years–so it is a while to wait.
The headline sounds histrionic, as if the rings are vanishing forever. That’s what I was trying to clarify, that it’s temporary.
They do clump together, it is though, but not permanently.
The info on the rings was nice, but what threw me for a loop:
145 moons?!?
Cheese and crackers…
AFAIK, there’s no definition of a moon/satellite that specifies a minimum size. They’re any body that orbits another body that orbits the Sun. So every one of Saturn’s ring particles could be considered a moon. Trillions of them.
It’s up to 146, according to NASA:
“As of June 8, 2023, Saturn has 146 moons in its orbit. The moons range in size from larger than the planet Mercury – the giant moon Titan – to as small as a sports arena.”
Personally I don’t think something the size of a sports arena should count, but I don’t get to decide these things.
The problem is that there’s no logical place to put a clear cutoff. There’s a continuum of sizes, all of similar composition, and so anywhere you put a cutoff, there will be some objects just above and below that cutoff which are very similar to each other.
My arbitrary standard would be - if you could - theoretically, given sufficient protection - stand on it for flag-planting purposes, and it orbits a planet, and it’s solitary, it’s a moon.
If it’s too small to stand on, it’s no moon. If it’s moving as part of a group, it’s no moon. It might be a moonlet (also a moonlet if it orbits another smaller body like an asteroid) or it might just be part of a ring.