Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.... Hebrews 1:2
"A catastrophic event could have created Saturn’s rings while the
dinosaurs were still roaming Earth.”
Q: Well, it could have, but did it?
At Space.com on 15 Sept 2022, reporter Keith Cooper cheerfully echoed the latest idea coming from planetary science wizards at their computers. “Saturn’s rings might have formed 100 million years ago when one of its icy moons was ripped apart by the planet’s gravity.” But does might make right?
Reporters’ imaginations launched into metaphorical wonderland.
Theorists have even given a name to this unseen moon: Chrysalis, suggestive of an abiotic transformation that made Saturn the beautiful planet it is today, its shimmering rings shining like the colorful wings of a butterfly hatched from a caterpillar.
The catchy story was hatched by Jack Wisdom from MIT. He used computer models to investigate why Saturn has a 26.7° tilt—unexpected in planetary cosmogony. Fortunately for humans, Saturn’s tilt allows us to view the rings from Earth in all their glory.
Leah Crane runs with the metaphor at New Scientist on 15 Sept 2022:
If the extra moon was destroyed, the debris left behind could have later become Saturn’s rings, leading the researchers to name this wrecked moon Chrysalis after the form a caterpillar takes as it transforms into a butterfly. “The butterfly is long dormant in this chrysalis phase and then it unveils itself and flaps its wings,” says Wisdom. “Similarly, this was just a small moon made of ice and then the rings suddenly emerged when it was ripped apart.”
Q: What is the justification for this supposition?
Nobody saw Chrysalis.
Nobody saw any moon rip apart.
Nobody was present in the age of dinosaurs.
We know dinosaurs from their bones,
but are the rings of Saturn evidence of Chrysalis?"
CEH
