Why are planetary rings and accretion discs so flat

Subject: Why are planetary rings and accretion discs so flat

Date: Tue Dec 14 04:04:48 1999
Posted by Tore Johnsen
Grade level: No grade entered. School: No school entered.
City: Stavanger State/Province: No state entered. Country: Norway
Area of science: Astronomy
ID: 945165888.As

Message:


If the rings of Saturn are the remnants of two or more large objects that 
collided, why are they so two-dimensional that they can hardly be seen 
edgewise? Why don't we have a Saturn "donut"?
If the solar system was created from a "shapeless" gas cloud, why did it 
suddenly assume such an extremely flat disc shape? The ecliptic (for the 
inner planets)is still very flat.

Re: Why are planetary rings and accretion discs so flat

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