Related papers: The missing rings around Solar System moons
All four giant planets and several minor bodies in the Solar System host rings. However, rings around moons have yet to be observed. A host planet can produce magnetic fields that affect its moons, adding a wealth of dynamical phenomena…
Rings are ubiquitous around giant planets in our Solar System. They evolve jointly with the nearby satellite system. They could form either during the giant planet formation process or much later, as a result of large scale dynamical…
Planetary rings are often speculated as being a relatively common attribute of giant planets, partly based on their prevalence within the Solar System. However, their formation and sustainability remain a topic of open discussion, and the…
Planetary rings are not only ubiquitous around the giant planets in the outer Solar System, but have also been discovered around several small distant bodies. In contrast, no rings have been observed around any inner Solar System objects.…
All the four giant planets in our Solar System have rings, but their characteristics are very different. The rings consist of a number of small particles, although individual particles have not been directly imaged. Near the central planet,…
The recent discovery of narrow rings around minor bodies has raised many questions regarding their origin and current dynamics. Sharp ring boundaries seem indicative of shepherding moonlets, but none have been found. All rings lie close to…
Context: Rings around giant planets are a common feature of the solar system. Even though solar radiation pressure is known to destabilize rings by exciting the orbital eccentricity of its particles, the Centaur Chariklo (and possibly…
The circumplanetary environments in our Solar System host a stunning array of moon and ring systems. Study of these environs has yielded valuable insights into planetary system formation and evolution, and there is every reason to believe…
This chapter of the book Planetary Ring Systems addresses the origin of planetary rings, one of the least understood processes related to planet formation and evolution. Whereas rings seem ubiquitous around giant planets, their great…
Recent observations have confirmed the existence of rings around minor bodies in the outer Solar System. These objects may possess satellites as well. Here we analytically investigate the interaction between such rings and satellites. We…
The presence of rings and moons around exoplanets is likely to be one of the next great discoveries in exoplanet research. Using theories developed for the Solar System, we explore the possibility of coupled ring-moon cycles around…
The unexpected finding of a ring system around the Centaur (10199) Chariklo opened a new window for dynamical studies and posed many questions about the formation and evolutionary mechanisms of Centaurs as well as the relationship to…
Generally, the oblateness of a planet or moon is what causes rings to settle into its equatorial plane. However, the recent suggestion that a ring system might exist (or have existed) about Rhea, a moon whose shape includes a strong prolate…
We consider the Roche critical density (rho_Roche), the minimum density of an orbiting object that, at a given distance from its planet, is able to hold itself together by self-gravity. It is directly related to the more familiar "Roche…
The recent discovery of rings and massive satellites around minor bodies and dwarf planets suggests that they may often coexist, as for example around Haumea. A ring perturbed by an oblate central body and by an inclined satellite may…
Centaurs are minor planets orbiting between Jupiter and Neptune that have or had crossing orbits with one or more giant planets. Recent observations and reinterpretation of previous observations have revealed the existence of ring systems…
We discuss the nature of rings that may exist around extrasolar planets. Taking the general properties of rings around the gas giants in the Solar System, we infer the likely properties of rings around exoplanets that reside inside the ice…
Orbital resonances are ubiquitous in the Solar system. They play a decisive role in the long term dynamics, and in some cases the physical evolution, of the planets and of their natural satellites, as well as the evolution of small bodies…
Planetary rings are ubiquitous structure in our Solar System, but their formation mechanisms remain under debate. One of the proposed scenarios is the tidal disruption of a nearby passing body that enters within a planet's Roche limit,…
The hypothesis of a recent origin of Saturn's rings and its mid-sized moons is actively debated. It was suggested that a proto-Rhea and a proto-Dione might have collided recently, giving birth to the modern system of mid-sized moons. It is…