Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Exoplanet found with rings to put Saturn to shame.

I'm going to just start with the picture, because this planet is incredible:

This is J1406b, a planet circling the star (you guessed it) J1406 and is the first exoplanet to be discovered with rings outside of our solar system. But this planet does not just have any rings; its ring system is about 200 times larger than Saturn's. The planet was described by the lead astronomer on the project, Eric Mamajek, as a "super Saturn." The massive ring system blocks about 95% of the light emitted by the sun-like star it is circling. This is how astronomers found the ring system, by studying the "eclipses" it produced with its star.

The ring system is expected to thin out over the next several million years as satellites form from the dust collecting. This planet can provide interesting insights to early versions of our solar system, before moons and satellites became more developed around our own planets.

1 comment:

  1. I recall this being discussed at the CFA. It's a pretty cool result.

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