Anéis Distantes

Ao analisarem a estrela 1SWASP J140747.93-394542.6, astrónomos descobriram que ela deverá ter um objeto de menor massa a orbitá-la, e esse objecto (anã castanha? planeta?) deverá ter um sistema de anéis ao seu redor.
O professor Eric Mamajek disse: “This marks the first time astronomers have detected an extrasolar ring system transiting a Sun-like star, and the first system of discrete, thin, dust rings detected around a very low-mass object outside of our solar system”.

Leiam em inglês, aqui e aqui.

2 comentários

  1. Acho que é uma Anã Marrom, não sei se um planeta seria massivo o suficiente para formar um sistema de anéis gigante o suficiente pra se detectar daqui da Terra, onde mal pudemos ver os de Urano.
    Como se diferencia um sistema de Anéis de um Disco de formação planetária ou estelar?

    1. Sinceramente não sei.

      Só sei o que está nos links:

      “But in December 2010, they noticed something odd. As they analyzed data gathered over a 54 day period in early 2007, the star 1SWASP J140747.93-394542.6 dimmed irregularly. The object passing in front of it couldn’t be a spherical planet, so what was it?
      The object had an elliptical silhouette, it was blocking the star’s light in an intermittent and irregular pattern, and was obscuring a significant portion of the star’s light. At one point in the pass, 95 percent of the star’s light was obscured, most likely by dust.
      “When I first saw the light curve, I knew we had found a very weird and unique object,” said Mamajek. “After we ruled out the eclipse being due to a spherical star or a circumstellar disk passing in front of the star, I realized that the only plausible explanation was some sort of dust ring system orbiting a smaller companion—basically a ‘Saturn on steroids.’” Rings were the likeliest culprit of the oscillating dimness in the star’s light. (…)
      Mamajek is particularly interested in the gaps between the apparent rings that are optically similar to those around Saturn. Gaps are usually indicative of objects within the rings with enough gravitational influence to shape them, like Saturn’s shepherd moons.”

      “This marks the first time astronomers have detected an extrasolar ring system transiting a Sun-like star, and the first system of discrete, thin, dust rings detected around a very low-mass object outside of our solar system”

      abraços

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