Asteroid with rings found
- An asteroid rock, called Chariklo, was found to possess 2 rings after it was closely scrutinized by 7 telescopes of South America.
- It is the smallest object to have rings & 5th after Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
- This was seen through a mini-eclipse, which turned out to be a feast for astronomers.
- The star seemed to vanish for a few seconds as Chariklo blocked its light — a phenomenon known as occultation. A few seconds before, and again a few seconds after the main occultation, there were 2 further very short dips in the star’s apparent brightness. It turned out that these 2 narrow, dense rings were blocking the light.
Exams Perspective:
- Asteroid
- Chariklo
- Occultation