Asteroid Found with Rings! First-of-Its-Kind Discovery Stuns Astronomers

Space.com ^ | March 26, 2014 | Nola Taylor Redd

[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.

[12th_Monkey]

See the complete article at the link

[left that other site]

ping

[Red Badger]

...an asteroid with its own set of rings that orbits the sun between Saturn and Uranus

Heh-heh-heh...................

[12th_Monkey]

I know...I know

[MrB]

In case you have trouble discerning a hole in the ground from it...

[SunkenCiv]

Wow! Thanks left that other site for the ping! Two-list topic, too.

join or quit view topics view or post blog bookmark post new topic subscribe

[SunkenCiv]

Wow! Thanks left that other site for the ping! Two-list topic, too.

· join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · subscribe ·

Google news searches: exoplanet · exosolar · extrasolar ·

[left that other site]

My Pleasure!

Always on the lookout for cool stuff!

[Rebelbase]

Pronounced Your-Anus or Urine-ess?

[rjsimmon]

Man, won’t Pluto be pissed if’n they designate this one a planet...

[John W]

I prefer our astronomers not to be stunned. The last time they’re stunned could be, well, bad.

[VanDeKoik]

It’s pretty funny my elementary teacher taught us to call it U-RAIN-E-US.

I couldn’t figure out why people kept calling it with that other name until years later.

[trad_anglican]

Previously only giant gas planets, most famously Saturn, were thought to possess bands made up of dust, rocks and ice.

You mean the science was settled?

[MrB]

I snagged that image when I saw it.
Very little funnier than something pointing out Uranus.

[12th_Monkey]

well that deep into space I think would garner some kind of surprise.

[Billthedrill]

Three posts. It took only three posts. ;-)

[12th_Monkey]

Pluto got a raw deal. Thanks Neil Degrasse Tyson

[12th_Monkey]

VERY good point

[Night Hides Not]

I’m calling it the Hip-Hop Asteroid, for all of its bling from the rings.

[miliantnutcase]

That’s really cool.