Perihelion
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There are a few ways the Earth could get rings. For example, if a big asteroid blew a chunk off the Moon or the Moon somehow descended below the Roche limit (which is the point at which the Earth's tidal forces tear apart orbiting objects (I think it's like 2-3 earth diameters), and it's not fucking likely for us, but iirc Mars's Phobos is supposed to do just that in a few million years), but that might also have the unfortunate effect of sending large pieces of rock crashing into the planet. Or a big asteroid impacting the planet could kick dust up into orbit. Or the Earth could capture an asteroid below the Roche limit and break it up. Science says the Earth might have had rings in the past from the latter two, like the dust kicked up by the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs might've formed rings. Anyway, depending on how big they were, rings would cast a shadow on the Earth and reduce global temperatures, possibly triggering an ice age. I think some people have actually recommended dealing with global warming with artificial rings, oddly enough. Ring systems are inherently unstable (maybe--there's some argument about whether Saturn's are formed from a broken-up moon or from material left over from the planet's creation), but it would probably take long enough to degenerate that we wouldn't care.
Ven, to answer your questions, yeah, the shadow would move with the seasons as the Earth's tilt relative to the sun changes--I believe it would fall on whichever hemisphere is currently in winter. I'm not sure how dark the shadow would be, but the atmosphere scatters light to a huge degree, so I'm guessing not very. Also, the composition of the rings would depend on how they formed. If the Earth captured an ice comet from the Oort Cloud or somewhere and broke it up, the rings could be made of ice; otherwise, probably rock. On a tangential note, we don't get a lot of comets around here because Jupiter and Saturn deflect or capture most them.
I read a novel once where the Moon got slammed with an asteroid, but that went more towards "SHIT A BIG METEORITE IS GOING TO WIPE OUT CIVILIZATION" than "hey guess what the ecosystem is fucked up now."
Anyway, some of that might be wrong, but I'm not an astronomer either, and that's my best guess.
EDIT: Just watched the video. That's pretty sweet. Let's blow up the Moon! :box: (Also, the video was wrong on one count. The rings wouldn't be visible in the Earth's shadow from space because there's no gas in space to diffuse light, so shadows are absolutely black. Look at pictures of Saturn. Anyway, aside from that nitpick, very cool.)
Ven, to answer your questions, yeah, the shadow would move with the seasons as the Earth's tilt relative to the sun changes--I believe it would fall on whichever hemisphere is currently in winter. I'm not sure how dark the shadow would be, but the atmosphere scatters light to a huge degree, so I'm guessing not very. Also, the composition of the rings would depend on how they formed. If the Earth captured an ice comet from the Oort Cloud or somewhere and broke it up, the rings could be made of ice; otherwise, probably rock. On a tangential note, we don't get a lot of comets around here because Jupiter and Saturn deflect or capture most them.
I read a novel once where the Moon got slammed with an asteroid, but that went more towards "SHIT A BIG METEORITE IS GOING TO WIPE OUT CIVILIZATION" than "hey guess what the ecosystem is fucked up now."
Anyway, some of that might be wrong, but I'm not an astronomer either, and that's my best guess.
EDIT: Just watched the video. That's pretty sweet. Let's blow up the Moon! :box: (Also, the video was wrong on one count. The rings wouldn't be visible in the Earth's shadow from space because there's no gas in space to diffuse light, so shadows are absolutely black. Look at pictures of Saturn. Anyway, aside from that nitpick, very cool.)