Scientists have proposed a fascinating new idea: Earth may have once possessed a ring system, akin to that of Saturn. These rings could have formed around 466 million years ago, during a tumultuous era marked by intense meteorite bombardment known as the Ordovician impact spike.

Pushing the planet beyond its safe limits erodes food, energy and water security and raises the risk of disease and conflict, researchers say.

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.

From Grace Earth may have had its own ring system that formed around 466 million years ago, lasting for tens of millions of years. As detailed in a new study published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters,

During a tumultuous period for our planet around 466 million years ago, Earth was pelted with meteorites and rocked by tsunamis. But geologists have uncovered some strange things about this moment in history.