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,

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

Earth may have had rings. At least that's what a new study published this month claims. Here's what we know so far.

The Earth: a ringed planet, much like Saturn, surrounded by a hula hoop of asteroids. The summit of Mount Everest: a tropical, vibrant paradise replete with frolicking shellfish and warm waters encouraging plentiful life.

A weird number of craters are located close to the equator, and the odds that this is random are incredibly low, researchers say.

"Over millions of years, material from this ring gradually fell to Earth, creating the spike in meteorite impacts," said researcher Andy Tomkins.

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.

The ring could have blocked sunlight on earth by casting a shadow on the surface of the planet, contributing to a significant global cooling event

I f 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

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.