In fact, the earth did once have a ring—as part of the formation of our moon, ironically enough. When the planet Thea crashed into the earth, a titanic amount of material was blown into space. This went into orbit around the earth, forming a ring until it all eventually coalesced into our present-day satellite.

If we had rings in the same proportion to our planet that Saturn’s are to it, it is pretty easy to figure out what they would like like from different places on the earth.

Top: From the Polynesia around the Tropic of Capricorn. Middle: Ecuador. Bottom: Arctic Circle.
Illustrations by Ron Miller via io9 for more illustrations and the full article.