Astronomers discover a new ring system orbiting a dwarf planet called Quaoar.
Nationalgeographic.co.id – Scientists have discovered a new ring system around a dwarf planet at the edge of the solar system. This ring system orbits much farther away than any other ring system, calling into question current theories about how ring systems formed.
The ring system surrounds a dwarf planet, named Quaoar, which is about half the size of Pluto and orbits the Sun beyond Neptune.
Quaoar is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, the icy planetesimal region beyond Neptune. This object has a diameter of about 1,110 km or about half the diameter of Pluto. The object was discovered by American astronomers Chad Trujillo and Michael Brown at the Palomar Observatory on June 4, 2002.
Signs of water ice on the surface of the Quaoar have been found, indicating that cryovolcanism may be occurring at the Quaoar. Small amounts of methane are also present on their surface, which only the largest Kuiper belt objects can retain. Now, the latest findings of its ring system add to the uniqueness of this dwarf planet.
These exciting findings have been published in the journal Nature on February 8, 2023 with the title “A dense ring of the trans-Neptunian object Quaoar outside its Roche limit.” This finding was made by an international team of astronomers using HiPERCAM—a highly sensitive, high-speed camera developed by scientists at the University of Sheffield. The camera is installed on the world’s largest optical telescope, the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) with a diameter of 10.4 meters in La Palma.
The Quaoar ring system is the most unique of the others due to its very remote position.
The rings are too small and dim to see directly in an image. Instead, the researchers made their discovery by observing an occultation, when the light from a background star is blocked by the Quaoar as it orbits the Sun.
The event lasted less than a minute, but was unexpectedly preceded and followed by two dips of light, indicating a ring system around the Quaoar.
Ring systems are relatively rare in our solar system. As well as the famous rings around the giant planets Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, only two other minor planets have rings—Chariklo and Haumea.
All previously known ring systems survived because they orbited close to their parent bodies, so tidal forces prevented ring material from accreting and forming moons.
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