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6 votes
0 answers
170 views

Are there any planetary ring system other than "Phoebe ring" not aligned to the equatorial plane?

Continuation of: Is it possible for planetary rings to be perpendicular (or near perpendicular) to the planet's orbit around the host star? The answers discussed about Uranian ring system and how ...
Nilay Ghosh's user avatar
  • 4,733
3 votes
1 answer
114 views

What kind of effects can maintain Uranus' rings' eccentricities?

The recent paper Thermal Emission from the Uranian Ring System has been in the news recently. The introduction mentions: The ε ring, the brightest and most massive of the narrow rings, was shown to ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 30.7k
9 votes
1 answer
899 views

Which star did Uranus occult in 1977 when the planet's rings were discovered?

In 1977, Uranus occulted a star, and the starlight flickered 40 minutes before and after the actual occultation, revealing Uranus' rings.This is common knowledge to astronomers, but what I can't find ...
George A. Solodun's user avatar
23 votes
1 answer
6k views

Why do some planets have rings?

Some planets, specifically Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune in our solar system, have planetary rings. Why do some planets have rings? How are they made and from what? Most importantly, will I ...
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