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Asteroid Found with Rings! First-of-Its-Kind Discovery Stuns Astronomers
Space.com ^ | March 26, 2014 | Nola Taylor Redd

Posted on 03/26/2014 12:05:41 PM PDT by 12th_Monkey

Scientists have made a stunning discovery in the outer realm of the solar system — an asteroid with its own set of rings that orbits the sun between Saturn and Uranus. The space rock is the first non-planetary object ever found to have its own ring system, researchers say.

The pair of space rock rings encircle the asteroid Chariklo. They were most likely formed after a collision scattered debris around the asteroid, according to a new study unveiled today (March 27). The asteroid rings also suggests the presence of a still-undiscovered moon around Chariklo that's keeping them stable, researchers said.

"We weren’t looking for a ring and didn’t think small bodies like Chariklo had them at all, so the discovery — and the amazing amount of detail we saw in the system — came as a complete surprise!" study leader Felipe Braga-Ribas, of the National Observatory in Brazil said in a statement today.

(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: 10199chariklo; asteroid; catastrophism; centaur; chariklo; nearchallenge; saturn; space; thomasvandflandern; tomvanflandern; tvf; uranus; xplanets
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To: Organic Panic

The “settled science” quote always makes me laugh. Very few things are “settled”, like maybe Newtons Laws. But a dynamic system that is always changing can’t have “settled” science.


41 posted on 03/26/2014 1:09:56 PM PDT by 12th_Monkey (One man one vote is a big fail, when the "one" man is an idiot.)
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To: 12th_Monkey

Even Newton’s got all upset when conditions got relativistic.

So, no, the best they can say is “to the best of our understanding at this time”.


42 posted on 03/26/2014 1:11:10 PM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: Nifster

We know very little about the workings of the universe.


43 posted on 03/26/2014 1:12:20 PM PDT by 12th_Monkey (One man one vote is a big fail, when the "one" man is an idiot.)
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To: MrB

there you go...

Quantum mechanics had to be invented because Newtons laws didn’t hold true to particles.


44 posted on 03/26/2014 1:14:13 PM PDT by 12th_Monkey (One man one vote is a big fail, when the "one" man is an idiot.)
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To: 12th_Monkey
Enough to be dangerous, not enough to be really dangerous...
45 posted on 03/26/2014 1:15:51 PM PDT by null and void ( Everything evil in the world may not be Islamic but everything Islamic is evil.)
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To: Rebelbase

Urectum


46 posted on 03/26/2014 1:22:21 PM PDT by JRios1968 (I'm guttery and trashy, with a hint of lemon. - Laz)
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To: Organic Panic

Unless we un-see it, or the data turns out to be flawed, the ‘debate’ is over, rings can circle an asteroid.


47 posted on 03/26/2014 1:24:12 PM PDT by Fuzz
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To: 12th_Monkey

So cool.


48 posted on 03/26/2014 1:27:26 PM PDT by ForYourChildren (Christian Education [ RomanRoadsMedia.com - a classical Christian approach to homeschool])
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To: JRios1968

Rectum...darn near killed’m!


49 posted on 03/26/2014 2:18:49 PM PDT by Go_Raiders (Freedom doesn't give you the right to take from others, no matter how innocent your program sounds.)
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To: 12th_Monkey

true words really hard to understand what is going on when what you measure occurred oh so long ago and far far away


50 posted on 03/26/2014 6:31:50 PM PDT by Nifster
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Because of the presence of the ring, moons are also suspected. Related from the FRchives:

Surprise! Earth Passing Asteroid 1998 QE2 Has a Moon
UniverseToday | May 30, 2013 | Nancy Atkinson on
Posted on 5/30/2013 5:51:12 PM by BenLurkin
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3025552/posts


51 posted on 04/09/2014 2:44:49 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: 12th_Monkey

There is no way to 100% prove anything in science, which is why everything is called a theory, even something as basic as gravity. “Laws” are simple mathematical relations which are used to construct theories, but even those can be occasionally overturned.


52 posted on 04/09/2014 2:52:29 AM PDT by Telepathic Intruder (The only thing the Left has learned from the failures of socialism is not to call it that)
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