Two Rings for Asteroid Chariklo
Explanation:
Asteroids can have rings.
In a surprising
discovery announced two weeks ago, the distant asteroid
10199 Chariklo was found to have
at least two orbiting rings.
Chariklo's diameter of about 250 kilometers makes it the largest of the measured
centaur asteroids, but now the smallest known object to have rings.
The
centaur-class
minor planet orbits the Sun between
Saturn and
Uranus.
The
above video gives an artist's illustration of how the rings were
discovered.
As
Chariklo
passed in 2013 in front of a faint star, unexpected but symmetric dips in the brightness
of the star revealed the
rings.
Planetary astronomers are now running
computer simulations designed to investigate how
Chariklo's unexpected ring system might have formed, how it survives, and given
the asteroid's low mass and close passes of other small asteroids and the
planet Uranus,
how long it may last.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
