A previously unknown satellite may form the Chariklo ring, a small body orbiting the Sun between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus, according to a team of astronomers who recently simulated the dynamics of the ring.
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Chariklo has a diameter of about 160 miles (257.5 kilometers) and is one of the Centaurs, a group of ice-based bodies between Jupiter and the ice giants Uranus and Neptune. Chariklo is the largest of these small objects, so it is similar to a small rock-sized boulder in superlative terms. Chariklo also has two rings, which were discovered in 2013 and recently observed by the Webb Space Telescope.
Now, research published in The Planetary Science Journal suggests that a satellite may constrain Chariklo’s thin rings. “Planetarium rings will naturally spread or disperse over time,” said Amanda Sickafoose, an astronomer at the Planetary Science Institute and lead author of the study, in a statement from the institute.
Sickafoose added, “Chariklo has two thin rings, several kilometers wide. To keep the ring this thin, a mechanism is needed to confine the material and prevent it from spreading.”
To model how the satellite might maintain Chariklo’s rings, the team performed N-body simulations. In other words, they modeled the motion of the millions of particles that make up the ring.
The team determined that a satellite orbiting Chariklo (which has a diameter of 160 miles) could have a diameter of about 3.73 miles (6 km). The idea that sentinel satellites could constrain Chariklo’s rings has previously been suggested, but now the idea is supported by new simulations.
The team also determined that the Centaur’s rings were around, if not beyond the Roche limit, the minimum distance from the body at which rings should form. Beyond that limit, ring material would be pulled toward the moon by gravity.
“There has been significant research into the amazing rings around giant planets; however, the mechanisms of ring formation and evolution around small objects are not well understood,” Sickafoose said. “We have shown that one possibility that thin rings exist around small objects is that they are being sculpted by small satellites.”
Further observations could reveal whether the satellite is actually orbiting Chariklo, although no live monitors in operation are capable of seeing it. If we are to definitively solve this mystery, either indirect observations or an entirely new mission will be needed.
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2024-02-07 07:47:17
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