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Wednesday, 20 July 2016

(10199) Chariklo, discovery of two rings

A stellar occultation of the centaur Chariklo, in June 2013, revealed that it had two rings; discovery that was made public in March 2014.

The rings orbit at a distance of 400 km from the center of the centaur Chariklo, whose diameter is about 250 km; and they are separated from each other by a distance of 9 km. The largest ring is 6-7 km wide, the other 2-4 km.


The rings have been nicknamed 'Oiapoque' and 'ChuĂ­' in honor of the two rivers that form the northern and southern coastal borders of Brazil.

The orbit of centaur Chariklo is located between Saturn and Uranus, in 4:3 resonance with Uranus.