TORONTO — There are four planets in our solar system that have rings: Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. But now scientists are coming to understand that rings may not be restricted to just planets.
In a new paper published in the journal Icarus, MIT scientists reveal that they have found a second minor planet — called 2060 Chiron — to possess a ring system.
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The first minor planet to be discovered with a ring system was Chariklo in 2014.
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Both of these bodies are part of a family of solar system objects called centaurs, which possess qualities of both comets and asteroids. Centaurs lie between the orbits of Jupiter and Pluto and there may be as many as 44,000 of them out there. The name comes from the mythical Greek creature which is a hybrid of a man and beast.
The researchers analyzed data obtained during a stellar occultation. An occultation occurs when a body crosses in front of a star, momentarily blocking out its light. As Chiron passed in front of the star, it blocked out a fraction of the starlight twice, on either side.
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The features were observed about 300 km out from the centre of Chiron. The scientists believe that the system may be between three and seven kilometres wide.
However, there is also the possibility that Chiron has symmetrical jets of dust and gas, first theorized in 1993. That means that Chiron would be an active centaur, which is unusual.
“Until Chariklo’s rings were found, it was commonly believed that these smaller bodies don’t have ring systems,” said Amanda Bosh, a lecturer at MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. “If Chiron has a ring system, it will show it’s more common than previously thought.”
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