

If Earth Had a Ring Like Saturn - antoviaque
http://io9.com/if-earth-had-a-ring-like-saturn-508750253

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tgb
Also, the article implicitly assumes that the ring is in the equatorial plane.
Looking around, I found this for justification: "Ring particle orbits must lie
precisely in the equatorial plane of the planet. Inclined orbits precess, or
change their orientation. Very quickly, an inclined ring will soon degenerate
into swarms of particles with different orbital planes." from
[http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/planets/resonanc.htm](http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/planets/resonanc.htm)

This destroys my alternate world fantasies of an Earth with a ring going
perpendicular to the equator and providing easy longitudinal information for
early seafarers, thereby speeding up the rate of exploration and mapping.

