"Astronomers Surprised to Find Asteroid With Rings" Topic
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Tango01  | 26 Mar 2014 11:38 a.m. PST |
"For the first time ever, astronomers have discovered a ring system surrounding an asteroid. The finding is a complete surprise to planetary scientists, who are yet unsure exactly how such rings could have formed. The cosmic bling was found around an object named Chariklo, which orbits in a region between Saturn and Uranus. At 155 miles across, or about the length of Massachusetts, Chariklo is the largest known asteroid in its neighborhood. Looking to get a better idea of its exact size and shape, astronomers trained their telescopes on the giant space rock as it passed in front on a distant star in June 2013. As Chariklo performed its eclipse, researchers noticed something odd: The star's light flickered just a bit immediately before and after Chariklo's pass. The reason for this darkening was the asteroid's two dense rings, which had briefly blocked the starlight. The thicker inner ring is about four miles wide, while the thinner outer ring is a little less than two miles. Spectroscopic analysis of the starlight also revealed that the rings are composed partially of water ice…"
Full article here.
link Amicalement
Armand |
| jpattern2 | 26 Mar 2014 12:07 p.m. PST |
Wow, how cool is that? I'm eager to read their theories as to how the rings migh have formed. Collisions with much smaller icy objects? Gravitational accumulation of icy "stuff" as it passed by? |
 Legion 4 | 26 Mar 2014 2:29 p.m. PST |
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 John the OFM | 26 Mar 2014 4:47 p.m. PST |
Aliens … No, global warming. |
 Editor in Chief Bill   | 26 Mar 2014 6:37 p.m. PST |
If you look carefully, you can see the obelisk on the surface… |
 Parzival | 26 Mar 2014 7:25 p.m. PST |
Ir's just the outer sighting mechanism for the alien asteroid gun… |
| Coelacanth1938 | 27 Mar 2014 9:04 p.m. PST |
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