#planetary-rings

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#exomoons #giant-planets #transit-method #exoplanet-detection #saturn #ring-formation #water-ice-composition
Science
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
2 weeks ago

How far are we from finding exomoons and exorings?

Giant planets in our solar system and around other stars likely possess numerous moons and rings, which astronomers can detect indirectly through transit methods and light curve analysis.
fromBig Think
5 months ago

400 years later, astronomers finally understand Saturn's rings

None of the rocky planets, asteroids, or known Kuiper belt objects have a system of rings. Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune possess them, but they're all much fainter, sparser, smaller, and less massive than Saturn's. In addition, Saturn's rings are: significantly tilted with respect to the planet's axis of rotation, are made almost exclusively of water-ice, and are actively in the process of evaporating.
Miscellaneous
Science
fromFuturism
6 months ago

James Webb Spots Mysterious Object Orbiting Uranus

James Webb Space Telescope discovered a tiny, roughly six-mile-wide moon orbiting Uranus, increasing the planet's known satellites to 29.
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