Why Jupiter Has No Rings
The title is false, Jupiter does have rings, but they are so thin, they are very hard to see, even in the best of conditions.
But why does Jupiter not have big, beautiful rings like Saturn? A recent article I read said Jupiter's moons are to blame. If it didn't have all those giant moons, it would have rings much bigger and more spectacular than Saturn's.
A new study says that giant moons destroy rings before they have a chance to form. And the Galilean moons of Jupiter, one of which is the largest moon in the solar system, seem to be good at it. Therefore, it is unlikely Jupiter ever had large rings at any point.
Massive planets form massive moons, which prevent them from having substantial rings.
Well, I thought the article had more to it than that, but that seems to be the sum total of it.
In a 'related' video, which I didn't watch for lack of time, the headline said Jupiter may have 'eaten' some sibling planets while it was growing. That sound interesting, so I'll keep my eyes open for more on that, but I suspect it will be as thin as Jupiter's rings.
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Planetary rings are a temporary phenomen (on a galactic scale anyway) ... they occur when a large body (aka a moon) moves into a Larger bodies Roche Limit (Aka Saturn [but can also be another moon or a star)
The Roche Limit is an area in a masses gravitational field where the field is so strong the pull is uneven. So the point furthest from the unfortunate moon (we'll use moon vs Saturn in this case) experiences less gravitational force than the point closest. It literally gets torn apart.
This is what makes rings.
But that's not the end. Cause the rings are dense enough to interact with each other. But they also lose energy through collisions and whatnot. This messes with the stable orbit of that particle and causes it to drift closer to the planet. But drifting closer to the planet = more collisions which = more drift downwards. Slowly particles fall into the planet. (some might also be ejected outwards as well)
Eventually, the rings lose their splendour and grow fainted and smaller.
Saturns rings will eventually be more like Jupiter's. We're very lucky to see them as they are now.
On another note. This is how planets are formed. All early plentary discs start out much like saturn's rings. But the slow drift towards the Sun allows clups in form. Those clumps build up more and more mass from the planetary disc and move closer and closer to the Sun. They stop drifting inwards when they fall into the empty space where a clump formed before them. Where Mercury is now, was where another planet once significantly formed before being lost to the star.
This probably won't occur on Saturn though, because there isn't really enough material to form a significant body anways and because the Rouche limit would stop anything substantial growing.