What would happen if Saturn moved past Earth?

Hint: it doesn’t end well for our planet

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Saturn would wreak havoc on Earth. Image Credit: NASA

Saturn would wreak havoc on Earth. Image Credit: NASA

Asked by Justine Hamilton

With a phenomenal mass nearly 100- times greater than our planet, Saturn has an amazingly strong gravitational attraction. However, when it really comes down to it, both planets would cause complete and utter chaos on each other.

Some time before Saturn reaches our planet, the Moon would get thrown out of its orbit, since the ringed giant would have much more of an influence on our lunar companion than the Earth. In response, our planet’s gravity would completely disorientate Saturn’s rings, which we know to be made up of ice, dust and rock, by pulling them in toward it.

As Saturn gets closer, say at a distance similar to the Moon, disaster on Earth would be on a global scale with floods and huge tidal waves. Earth would subsequently get torn apart by strong tidal force.

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