A ring could explain a mysterious arrangement of impact craters near the equator and might even have caused an ice age, according to a new study

Earth and Saturn might be a lot more similar than previously thought. In a new study, a team of researchers suggests that 466 million years ago, a ring system made up of asteroid remnants may have surrounded our planet,

To reach that surprisingly conclusion, scientists studied the positions of 21 asteroid impact craters during the Ordovician period – the second of six periods in the

The new study asserts that Earth's ring formed around 466 million years ago, and stuck around for around 40 million years before dissipating. Researchers say that the existence of such a ring would help solve several puzzles from Earth's past and that much of the data they collected supports its existence.

If astronomers had been walking the Earth 466 million years ago, they may have had something special to see. The moon and the planets and the stars and the sun would have looked pretty much the same as they do today.

C ould Earth once have had a planetary ring like the ones around Saturn? Scientists from Monash University in Australia think so. In a recent paper they identify 450m-year-old craters that lie close to Earth’s historical equator.

Evidence suggests Earth had a ring system 466 million years ago, causing a surge in meteorite impacts and possibly influencing the planet's climate.