ring around world used to be a aboveboard concept : If you have material in range within a certain space , you get a ring . If it ’s further out , the material coalesces into a moon in a matter of decades . In February , uranologist annunciate that the gnome planet Quaoarhas a ringwhere it should n’t be potential to have one . Now , new enquiry hint there is also a 2d one , and this defies our understanding of anchor ring organization as well .
In every other body in the solar system , rings are find within the Roche limit , a distance that reckon on the density of the world and the density of the material around it . Rings have always been within that economic value , whether we count the majestic rings of Saturn or the small two-fold rings ofasteroid Chariklo . But Quaoar has resolve to be special .
The dwarf major planet is about 555 kilometers ( 345 miles ) in radius and is roughly 43 times as far from the Sun as Earth . Quaoar is orb by a modest Sun Myung Moon , called Weywot , of about 160 kilometers ( 100 miles ) in diameter . Weiwot orbits at about 14,500 kilometers ( 9,000 mile ) , or about 24 r of Quaoar . The first halo is settle at 7.5 radii or 4,050 kilometers ( 2,500 miles ) .
The second ring is locate at 2,500 kilometers ( 1,550 miles ) , also well beyond the Greco-Roman Roche limit point for Quaoar , which is 1,780 klick ( about 1,100 nautical mile ) . This world alone is challenge the classical whimsy of where and how dense ring can survive . Clearly , the Roche demarcation line is not a limit at all when it comes to Quaoar .
So how is Quaoar pulling off this apparently cathartic - defying whoremaster ? Researchers believe that the key might beorbital resonance .
If two Sun Myung Moon are in resonance , their orbital menstruum ( the clock time it have them to go around their planet ) would be an integer multiple . For exemplar , one moon takes three days and the other one six , so they are in a 1:2 ringing .
The first mob is within two potential resonance : one to do with Weywot ( 6:1 ) and one with Quaoar ’s twist - orbit resonance ( 1:3 ) . The second closed chain is also near a spin - orbit resonance ( 5:7 ) . To determine whether this is indeed the case will require more study and more observations .
This new discovery was potential thanks to the leading eclipse of August 9 , 2022 . This provide nine effective occultation chords obtained in Hawaii , Mexico , and the continental United States that allowed astronomer to refine the size of it of Quaoar as well as expand our sympathy of the hoop .
The enquiry is take on in the journalAstronomy & Astrophysics .
