As the moon spiraled in, tidal forces would have flexed its icy shell, stripping off chunks to build rings a thousand times more massive than Saturn has today. Eventually, ice boulders in the rings would have smashed into each other, spreading out the rings, and causing the outer edge to spawn icy moons—the small ones we find orbiting Saturn today.
As for that ancient moon’s rocky core? Saturn probably swallowed it up. Leaving Titan unique. And leaving scientists with a puzzle they finally may have solved.
—Christopher Intagliata