The structure of Chariklo's rings from stellar occultations
Abstract
Two narrow and dense rings (called C1R and C2R) were discovered around the Centaur object (10199) Chariklo during a stellar occultation observed on 2013 June 3. Following this discovery, we planned observations of several occultations by Chariklo's system in order to better characterize the physical properties of the ring and main body. Here, we use 12 successful occulations by Chariklo observed between 2014 and 2016. They provide ring profiles (physical width, opacity, edge structure) and constraints on the radii and pole position. Our new observations are currently consistent with the circular ring solution and pole position, to within the km formal uncertainty for the ring radii derived by Braga-Ribas et al. The six resolved C1R profiles reveal significant width variations from to 7.5 km. The width of the fainter ring C2R is less constrained, and may vary between 0.1 and 1 km. The inner and outer edges of C1R are consistent with infinitely sharp boundaries, with typical upper limits of one kilometer for the transition zone between the ring and empty space. No constraint on the sharpness of C2R's edges is available. A 1 upper limit of m is derived for the equivalent width of narrow (physical width <4 km) rings up to distances of 12,000 km, counted in the ring plane.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1706.00207,
title = {The structure of Chariklo's rings from stellar occultations},
author = {D. Bérard and B. Sicardy and J. I. B. Camargo and J. Desmars and F. Braga-Ribas and J. L. Ortiz and R. Duffard and N. Morales and E. Meza and R. Leiva and G. Benedetti-Rossi and R. Vieira-Martins and A. R. Gomes-Júnior and M. Assafin and F. Colas and J. L. Dauvergne and P. Kervella and J. Lecacheux and L. Maquet and F. Vachier and S. Renner and B. Monard and A. A. Sickafoose and H. Breytenbach and A. Genade and W. Beisker and K. L. Bath and H. J. Bode and M. Backes and V. D. Ivanov and E. Jehin and M. Gillon and J. Manfroid and J. Pollock and G. Tancredi and S. Roland and R. Salvo and L. Vanzi and D. Herald and D. Gault and S. Kerr and H. Pavlov and K. M. Hill and J. Bradshaw and M. A. Barry and A. Cool and B. Lade and A. Cole and J. Broughton and J. Newman and R. Horvart and D. Maybour and D. Giles and L. Davis and R. A. Paton and B. Loader and A. Pennell and P. D. Jaquiery and S. Brillant and F. Selman and C. Dumas and C. Herrera and G. Carraro and L. Monaco and A. Maury and A. Peyrot and J. P. Teng-Chuen-Yu and A. Richichi and P. Irawati and C. De Witt and P. Schoenau and R. Prager and C. Colazo and R. Melia and J. Spagnotto and A. Blain and S. Alonso and A Román and P. Santos-Sanz and J. L. Rizos and J. L. Maestre and D. Dunham},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1706.00207},
year = {2017}
}