THIS baffled astronomers…

What they spotted in this region of the solar system surprised them.  Of course we have seen planets with rings and even in the last few decades or so have noticed that Neptune had rings.  However they did not expect to find them here:

Chariklo is the largest member of a class known as the Centaurs and it orbits between Saturn and Uranus in the outer Solar System. The astronomers found much more than they were expecting. A few seconds before, and again a few seconds after the main occultation there were two further very short dips in the star’s apparent brightness. Something around Chariklo was blocking the light!

And to add to the discussion they still do not know for certain where Neptune’s rings came from much less an asteroid.  Could it be the remnants of a moon or something else?

Let’s check out a video showing this strange asteroid on page 2

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