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Distant exoplanet hosts giant ring system


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Distant exoplanet hosts giant ring system

Astronomers say they have discovered a planet with a gigantic ring system that is 200 times larger than that around Saturn.

It is the first such structure detected around a planet beyond our Solar System.

The researchers say there are probably more than 30 rings, each measuring tens of millions of kilometres in diameter.

The findings by a Dutch-US team are to be published in the Astrophysical Journal.

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This Planet's Awesome Ring System Puts Saturn's to Shame

January 27, 2015 at 8:00:00 AM by John Wenz |

Saturn may have the largest set of rings in our solar system, but it has nothing on J1407b. That planet, located about 433 light years away, has a ring system

stretching out 200 times the distance of Saturn’s. They’re so big that if Saturn had them, we’d see the rings clearly from Earth in broad daylight.

The planet is huge—10 to 40 times more massive than Jupiter, and so big that it might actually fall be a brown dwarf, or a failed star. Astronomers spotted J1407b

because that huge ring system blots out the light from its parent star, a yellow dwarf similar to the Sun. There’s one large gap in the ring structure, possibly coming from a moon the size of Earth or Mars.

The reason for the rings’ enormousness may be the relatively young age of the star system. In millions of years, a blink as far as the universe is concerned, those rings will probably coalesce into moons.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/how-to/blog/exoplanet-bigger-rings-than-saturn-17674814

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Saturn's rings exhibit similarity of groves on a vinyl album

hahahah, yeah.... if only we could put a needle on that record....

SpaceNeedleQAClose.jpg

but seriously.... as a kid, i always found Saturn to be my "favourite Planet", due to the uniqueness and beauty of its ring system. Then i learned that it's not THAT special, because Neptune has some fancy rings as well....But this is an amazing discovery that boggles my simple mind. I can see that Saturn can keep its now tiny-appearing rings in place with its gravitational pull, but SUCH a huge ring system....wow!

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@Jacques

yeah it's like one big transmission system. Saturn's beautiful , Neptune too.sometimes I listen to the sounds of the planets recorded at different times. The storm on Saturn moves in perfect sync to the sounds that it emits. it also forms a 6 sided hexagon with an eye in the center.some phenomenon that is. pretty cool.

Edited by Ellapennella
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it also forms a 6 sided hexagon with an eye in the center.some phenomenon that is. pretty cool.

ouuuuuuh YEAAAAAAAAAAH! :)

saturn%20hexagon.jpg

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