A dense ring of the trans-Neptunian object Quaoar outside its Roche limit

Abstract

Planetary rings are observed not only around giant planets1, but also around small bodies such as the Centaur Chariklo2 and the dwarf planet Haumea3. Up to now, all known dense rings were located close enough to their parent bodies, being inside the Roche limit, where tidal forces prevent material with reasonable densities from aggregating into a satellite. Here we report observations of an inhomogeneous ring around the trans-Neptunian body (50000) Quaoar. This trans-Neptunian object has an estimated radius4 of 555 km and possesses a roughly 80-km satellite5 (Weywot) that orbits at 24 Quaoar radii6,7. The detected ring orbits at 7.4 radii from the central body, which is well outside Quaoar’s classical Roche limit, thus indicating that this limit does not always determine where ring material can survive. Our local collisional simulations show that elastic collisions, based on laboratory experiments8, can maintain a ring far away from the body. Moreover, Quaoar’s ring orbits close to the 1/3 spin–orbit resonance9 with Quaoar, a property shared by Chariklo’s2,10,11 and Haumea’s3 rings, suggesting that this resonance plays a key role in ring confinement for small bodies.

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Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Morgado, B.E. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0088-1808 Sicardy, B. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1995-0842 Braga-Ribas, F. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2311-2438 Ortiz, J.L. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8690-2413 Salo, H. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4400-042X Vachier, F. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4289-4466 Desmars, J. Pereira, C.L. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1000-8113 Santos-Sanz, P. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1123-983X Sfair, R. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4939-013X de Santana, T. Assafin, M. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8211-0777 Vieira-Martins, R. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1690-5704 Gomes-Júnior, A.R. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3362-2127 Margoti, G. Dhillon, V.S. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4236-9642 Fernández-Valenzuela, E. Broughton, J. Bradshaw, J. Langersek, R. Benedetti-Rossi, G. Souami, D. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4058-0815 Holler, B.J. Kretlow, M. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8858-3420 Boufleur, R.C. Camargo, J.I.B. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1642-4065 Duffard, R. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5963-5850 Beisker, W. Morales, N. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0419-1599 Lecacheux, J. Rommel, F.L. Herald, D. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2026-1630 Benz, W. Jehin, E. Jankowsky, F. Marsh, T.R. Littlefair, S.P. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7221-855X Bruno, G. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3288-0802 Pagano, I. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9573-4928 Brandeker, A. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7201-7536 Collier-Cameron, A. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8863-7828 Florén, H.G. Hara, N. Olofsson, G. Wilson, T.G. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8749-1962 Benkhaldoun, Z. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6285-9847 Busuttil, R. Burdanov, A. Ferrais, M. Gault, D. Gillon, M. Hanna, W. Kerr, S. Kolb, U. Nosworthy, P. Sebastian, D. Snodgrass, C. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9328-2905 Teng, J.P. de Wit, J. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2415-2191
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© 2023 The Authors. Except as otherwise noted, this author-accepted version of a journal article published in Nature is made available via the University of Sheffield Research Publications and Copyright Policy under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Dates:	Published: 9 February 2023 Published (online): 8 February 2023 Accepted: 6 December 2022
Institution:	The University of Sheffield
Academic Units:	The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Physics and Astronomy (Sheffield)
Funding Information:	Funder Grant number European Research Council 340040 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL ST/V000853/1
Depositing User:	Symplectic Sheffield
Date Deposited:	22 Nov 2023 15:36
Last Modified:	22 Nov 2023 15:43
Status:	Published
Publisher:	Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Refereed:	Yes
Identification Number:	10.1038/s41586-022-05629-6
Related URLs:	PubMed URL
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:205568

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A dense ring of the trans-Neptunian object Quaoar outside its Roche limit

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