Celestial Body Chiron
Why in news?
- Astronomers have observed a ring system forming around the icy celestial body Chiron, which is a centaur object orbiting between Jupiter and Neptune.
- Four distinct rings were detected: three dense inner rings at about 273 km, 325 km, and 438 km from Chiron’s center, and a newly discovered fourth outer ring about 1,400 km away.
- The rings are composed mainly of water ice with some rocky material, similar to Saturn’s rings.
- These rings are evolving in real time, providing rare insight into ring system development.
- Chiron sometimes behaves like a comet, releasing gas and dust, and in 1993 it showed a small comet-like tail.
- The observations were made using a method called stellar occultation by a team including researchers from Brazil, France, and Spain.
- Chiron, officially designated as 2060 Chiron, is a celestial body classified as a centaur—a small object in the outer solar system with characteristics of both asteroids and comets.
- It orbits the Sun between Saturn and Uranus in an eccentric, unstable orbit, completing one orbit roughly every 50 years.
- Discovered in 1977 by astronomer Charles Kowal, Chiron is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) in diameter.
- Chiron exhibits dual behavior: initially classified as an asteroid, it was later found to display comet-like activity, such as ejecting gas and dust and sometimes developing a coma and tail, leading to its dual classification also as comet 95P/Chiron.
- Its composition includes rock, water ice, and complex organic compounds, resembling a comet nucleus.
