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What astronomers took for rings in the minor planet Chiron in 2011 was something completely different, new research shows. The true nature of what is orbiting the icy globe remains unknown, but it appears to be a rotating disk of dust and gas.
The initial discovery of Chiron, an object about 210 kilometers (126 miles) in diameter, marked an important development in our understanding of the outer solar system. With an orbit different from that of Saturn itself near Uranus, Chiron is the first of a new class of objects with similar locations, called centaurs. A testament to how much space has progressed, since the discovery of Chiron in 1977, hundreds of centaurs have been found – including one of the most unusual. material in the Solar System.
No spacecraft has visited Chiron, or any of the centaurs (the centaur Phoebe is suspected of being retired), and it’s too far away for the Earth system to see it clearly. eat However, we learned something interesting about it after it passed in front of an unidentified star in 2011. This revealed the existence of a ring system in Chiron – or at least We thought it was done. Recent updates indicate that we misinterpreted the confirmation.
The case for the rings around Chiron came from the fact that, before and after Chiron’s passage in front of the star, it was seen to brighten and brighten again. The process happened four times: twice before and twice after the main event. This led astronomers to conclude that the icy world was surrounded by two rings, each capable of blocking a part of it. the light from distant stars.
The discovery was a surprise, since the gravity of Chiron is so small that we do not know how to stop it on a ring. However, in addition to the four in the Solar System there are rings, one was found near Chariklo (the largest centaur) not long ago, so it is not all done. Apparently, putting a ring on it is the rage behind Jupiter. Since then, other candidates have suggested that this happens a lot.
Evidence that things were not so simple came from an occultation of an alien star in 2018. Although it also showed a drop in light before and after Chiron passed in front of the star, the drops it is only half as seen in 2011, and there were three farms before that, not two.
“The location and amount of material found on Chiron is different from what has been observed before suggesting that the ring is not active but that the material around it is evolving,” said the study author Dr Amanda Sickafoose of the Planetary Science Institute in. a information.
Chiron’s magic in 2018 was mostly visible from the ocean, so luckily one large telescope made it into the visible range.
Photo Credit: A. Sickafoose/PSI.
Chiron turned on another star on December 15, 2022. Although the star was brighter this time, the details of the event were of low resolution. What was seen shows a Wide screen discwith instructions inconsistent with the 2011 or 2018 event.
“There’s stuff going on in Chiron that’s going on over the short term,” Sickafoose said.
All in all, there seems to be less blocking of starlight at Chiron in 2018 than in 2011, but more so in 2022. This may be the result of an attack in February 2021 that saw the light shine. Chiron’s strength, perhaps because of letting go of things at last. force his disk.
Like many other centaurs, Chiron has shown signs of comet-like activity. Even the closest part of its orbit is far enough from the Sun to be very warm, but some of its more volatile gases escape, and how this relates to the disk is not is clear now.
Whether Chariklo and other special events have something more complicated, is also a question that needs further research, as what caused the changes observed between 2011 and 2018.
On the other hand, the 2018 research was able to destroy any large atmosphere, as something created by many escaping gases.
Small objects like Chiron only block light from reaching a small part of the world. In the case of the 2018 magic, most of that is the sea – but fortunately, the event was seen with the 1.9 meter telescope at the South African Astronomical Observatory, as well as a small in the same place.
Common declaration. Chiron should not be confused with Pluto’s moon Charon, but it usually is.
The study of the 2018 occultation is published in space The Planetary Science Journal.