James Webb Space Telescope discovers the rings of tiny solar system body Chariklo are changing
Comparisons with occultations over the past decade show the inner ring growing more opaque while the outer ring is thinning, researchers said.
- On September 9, 2026, researchers published evidence in Science Advances showing the asteroid Chariklo's rings are changing, with the inner ring growing more opaque and the outer ring becoming more transparent.
- Chariklo, an icy Centaur asteroid about 250 kilometers wide orbiting between Saturn and Uranus, first revealed its ring system in 2013, overturning assumptions that such rings were stable, static ornaments.
- During an October 18, 2022, stellar occultation, the James Webb Space Telescope monitored the asteroid, revealing the inner ring was about 50 per cent more opaque than earlier measurements.
- Team leader Pablo Santos-Sanz of the IAA-CSIC stated that comparing observations with decade-old data revealed opposite changes, saying, "Our results force us to rethink how they form, how they evolve, and what mechanisms maintain their stability."
- Uncertainty remains regarding the physical cause of these fluctuations, with potential explanations including particle dispersal or collisions, indicating that ring systems around minor bodies are dynamic environments requiring further investigation.
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Rings aren’t exclusive to giant planets: Chariklo, an icy body only about 250 kilometres across—shorter than Tasmania is long—carries two narrow rings, and Webb observations suggest they are changing on timescales of years.
Webb data indicate Chariklo's dense inner ring grew more opaque while its tenuous outer ring faded, though wavelength-dependent grain behaviour remains an alternative explanation.
Astronomers recorded on September 9 that the ring system encircled the celestial body Chariklo undergoes continuous transformations in deep space. Measurements collected by the James Webb space telescope confirmed the structural evolution. Chariklo orbits the Sun between Saturn and Uranus at roughly 17 times the distance separating Earth from the Sun. Classified among the centaurs, [...]
The James Webb Space Telescope has detected unexpected changes in the ring system of tiny asteroid Hariclo circling in the far reaches of the solar system.
The James Webb space telescope found that the two rings of Chariklo are changing in an opposite way, a finding that questions ideas about the stability of these tiny systems.
Naftemporiki
ekritiUsing the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered that the ring system of a small body in our solar system is even more interesting than they knew until now. The object… James Webb illuminates the smallest ringed world in our solar system - ΙΝΑΦΤΕΜΟΠΟΡΙΚΙ
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