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Planetary Rings

Shopping for rings
IDL TIFF file

I have a space question. I know about the Roche limit but is there an upper limit to how big a ring can get compared to its planet?

Asked by Dan

Of course there are limits, the Universe is all about limits! But they’re not as strict as one would think.

We have found an object in 2012, J1407b, with a ring system 200 million kilometres in diameter. If the rings were centred on Earth they would cover the inner solar system all the way to the orbit of Mercury on the opposite side of the Sun.

27 April 2015
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