Chariklo passage

Niels Bohr Institutet
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26. marts 2014
Når et objekt passerer foran en stjerne sker der et lille fald i stjernens lysstyrke, og astronomerne kunne se, at der også var et dyk i lysstyrken udenfor objektet.
Det viste, at der var en ring af materiale i en skive rundt om det lille objekt, Chariklo.
Hele passagen varede kun 5 sekunder, men de kunne endda opklare, at der er tale om to separate tynde ringe, som består af ispartikler og småsten. De to ringe er kun 3 og 7 km brede og ikke mere end nogle få hundrede meter tykke. Der er 14 km mellem centrene af de to ringe og der er et 9 km bredt tomrum mellem dem.

When an object passes in front of a star there is a small dip in the star’s brightness and the astronomers could see that there was also a dip in the brightness outside the object.
This showed that there was a ring of material in a disc around the little object, Chariklo. The entire passage only lasted 5 seconds, but they could even determine that there are two separate thin rings, which are comprised of ice particles and pebbles. The two rings are only 3 and 7 km wide and no more than a few hundred meters thick. There are 14 km between the centers of the two rings and there is a 9 km wide gap between them.

Credit: Lucie Maquet