Rings are special, dazzling rarities in our solar system. Now, astronomers have found that an extremely distant world — beyond even Pluto's orbit — is encircled with unusual rings.
Scientists reported that the frigid dwarf planet Quaoar, a round body that doesn't quite meet all the definitions of a planet, has a system of rings enduring at an impressively far distance away from Quaoar. The detection is unexpected, because researchers didn't think rings could survive at a relatively far distance from the celestial body they orbit. (This distance is detailed below.)
Astronomers still have questions about how such rings form and endure.
"Everyone learns about Saturn's magnificent rings when they're a child, so hopefully this new finding will provide further insight into how they came to be," Vik Dhillon, one of the study's authors and a scientist at the University of Sheffield’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, said in a statement. The researchers published their research in the journal Nature on Feb. 8.
Scientists find unprecedented rings around object in our solar system
Scientists reported that the frigid dwarf planet Quaoar, a round body that doesn't quite meet all the definitions of a planet, has a system of rings enduring at an impressively far distance away from Quaoar. The detection is unexpected, because researchers didn't think rings could survive at a relatively far distance from the celestial body they orbit. (This distance is detailed below.)
Astronomers still have questions about how such rings form and endure.
"Everyone learns about Saturn's magnificent rings when they're a child, so hopefully this new finding will provide further insight into how they came to be," Vik Dhillon, one of the study's authors and a scientist at the University of Sheffield’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, said in a statement. The researchers published their research in the journal Nature on Feb. 8.
Scientists find unprecedented rings around object in our solar system
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