Related papers: JWST occultation reveals unforeseen complexity in …
The recent discovery of dense rings around the Centaur Chariklo (and possibly Chiron) reveals that complete dense planetary rings are not only found around Saturn and Uranus, but also around small bodies orbiting in the vicinity of those…
We use data from five stellar occultations observed between 2013 and 2016 to constrain Chariklo's size and shape, and the ring reflectivity. We consider four possible models for Chariklo (sphere, Maclaurin spheroid, tri-axial ellipsoid and…
Dense and narrow rings have been discovered recently around the small Centaur object Chariklo and the dwarf planet Haumea, while being suspected around the Centaur Chiron. They are the first rings observed in the Solar System elsewhere than…
In this work we aim to study if the variability in the absolute magnitude of Chariklo and the temporal variation of the spectral ice feature, even its disappearance in 2007, can be explained by an icy ring system whose aspect angle changes…
We investigate whether rings around extrasolar planets could be detected from those planets' transit lightcurves. To this end we develop a basic theoretical framework for calculating and interpreting the lightcurves of ringed planet…
The nature of the close-in rocky planet 55 Cnc e is puzzling despite having been observed extensively. Its optical and infrared occultation depths show temporal variability, in addition to a phase curve variability observed in the optical.…
Recent observations of a stellar occultation have revealed the presence of a previously undiscovered small satellite around Quaoar. Orbiting near Quaoar's unusual ring system, this new satellite has the potential to provide significant…
While NGC 1514 is an elliptical, but complex, planetary nebula at optical wavelengths, it was discovered to have a pair of infrared-bright, axisymmetric rings contained within its faint outer shell during the course of the WISE all-sky…
The centaur (2060) Chiron has exhibited outgassing behaviour and possibly hosts a ring system. On 2011 November 29, Chiron occulted a fairly bright star (R approximately 15 mag) as observed from the 3-m NASA Infrared Telescope Facility…
The discovery that the centaur (10199) Chariklo possesses a ring system opens questions about their origin. We here asses the plausibility of different scenarios for the origin of the observed ring system. We first consider the possibility…
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…
Ring galaxies are an uncommon class of galaxies whose morphology is closely related to dynamical processes that govern galaxy evolution. Some ring galaxies, known as "collisional ring galaxies", are thought to form as a consequence of…
Knowledge of the Kuiper Belt is currently limited to those objects that can be detected directly. Objects with diameters less than $\sim$10km reflect too little light to be detected. These smaller bodies could contain most of the mass in…
Although nearly 6,000 exoplanets are currently known, in most cases our knowledge is limited to a handful of the planet's orbital characteristics and bulk properties such as radius and mass. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) can expand…
In terms of scientific output, the best way to study solar system bodies is sending spacecraft to make in-situ measurements or to observe at close distance. Probably, the second best means to learn about important physical properties of…
The serendipitous detection of stellar occultations by Outer Solar System objects is a powerful method for ascertaining the small end ($r \lesssim 15$ km) of the size distribution of Kuiper Belt Objects and may potentially allow the…
The James Webb Space Telescope will enable a wealth of new scientific investigations in the near- and mid-infrared, with sensitivity and spatial/spectral resolution greatly surpassing its predecessors. In this paper, we focus upon Solar…
Three ring systems have been discovered to date around small irregular objects of the solar system (Chariklo, Haumea and Quaoar). For the three bodies, material is observed near the second-order 1/3 Spin-Orbit Resonance (SOR) with the…
Located at the bottom of the main sequence, ultracool dwarf stars are widespread in the solar neighbourhood. Nevertheless, their extremely low luminosity has left their planetary population largely unexplored, and only one of them,…
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,…