Researchers Discover Ring Around Small Solar System Body

Recently, a group of researchers from the Valongo Observatory, at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), discovered a ring around a small body in the solar system, defined as a trans-Neptunian object. In addition, this is very similar to the planet Pluto, being also a candidate to be a dwarf planet.

Professor Bruno Morgado, from the Valongo Observatory and first author of the research, published in the international journal Nature, informed Agência Brasil that “It can be thought of as a younger, smaller cousin of Pluto”.

According to the professor, this discovery is intriguing, since until 10 years ago, the structure was only found around large planets. “We have Saturn’s rings, which are beautiful; it has the rings of Uranus, Neptune, Jupiter”.

Understand the relationship of the Roche Limit with the uncovered ring

The small body in question was named Quaoar, and Morgado explained that “That distance makes it a very big surprise that it exists, because there is something that is a limit known as the Roche Limit”.

The Roche Limit is a theory developed in 1850 by the French astronomer Édouard Roche that defines the distance of 1,750 kilometers (km) for a disk of particles to remain in the shape of a ring. It was believed that the disk would form a natural satellite, like a moon.

Finally, the professor found that Quaoar’s ring is far beyond Roche’s Limit. “Then he should not exist. It should have become a moon a long time ago. This is the great surprise and the great novelty of the work. Researchers still don’t have the answer as to why that ring is there,” he concluded.