Quaoar: Astronomers discover unexpected new ring system around dwarf planet

An artist's impression of how Quaoar and its ring might look like

Astronomers are puzzled after spotting a rare ring around a mini-planet in our Solar System.

The newly discovered dwarf planet, named Quaoar, is around half the size of Pluto and orbits the Sun beyond Neptune.

Ring systems are relatively rare in the Solar System and are only thought to be able to survive because they orbit closely to their planet.

However, Quaoar's ring seems to be much further away than experts thought possible!

What's happened with Quaoar's ring?

The rings around Quaoar are too faint to be seen by a telescope

According to astronomers, what makes Quaoar special is that its ring lies twice as far away from it as what was previously thought to be the maximum limit!

Professor Vik Dhillon from the University of Sheffield said: "It was unexpected to discover this new ring system in our Solar System and it was doubly unexpected to find the rings so far out from Quaoar, challenging our previous notions of how such rings form.

"Everyone learns about Saturn's magnificent rings when they're a child, so hopefully this new finding will provide further insight into how they came to be," he added.

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The new discovery was made by an international team of astronomers using an extremely sensitive high-speed camera called HiPERCAM.

The rings around Quaoar are too small and faint to be seen by a telescope alone, and researchers were only able to discover them when light from a star was blocked by Quaoar as it orbited the sun.

Scientists say that the rings which were found around Quaoar are similar to ones found around Saturn.

Ring systems are relatively rare in our Solar System with only two minor planets known to possess rings - Chariklo and Haumea - in addition to those of Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune.

However, all of these ring systems are only able to survive because they orbit close to their planet. But now Quaoar's ring has changed what was thought possible.