Asteroid - Comet Hybrid Chiron Sports Rings

Solar system's gas giants are about to lose their exclusivity of possessing rings as researchers have discovered that smaller comet-asteroid hybrids can also 'wear' rings.

According to Discovery News, researchers say the hybrid, also called a Centaur, named Chiron may have two rings 3km and 7km wide, around it. The observations were made in 2011 when Chiron passed in front of light from a distant star that allowed observations. The symmetry in dimming of star's light at distant end of the object led researchers to hypothesize rings. The finding was surprising as centaurs between Jupiter and Pluto were believed to be dormant. Chiron is believed to measure 150 miles wide.

"It's interesting, because Chiron is a centaur - part of that middle section of the solar system, between Jupiter and Pluto, where we originally weren't thinking things would be active, but it's turning out things are quite active," says Amanda Bosh, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in a news release.

Chiron's rings are the second to be discovered around a centaur. The first set of rings around another centaur Chariklo, was discovered last year leading researchers to realize that centaurs are not dormant, reports Daily Mail.

While rings is an exciting discovery, the present study's authors do not rule out that their observations could also indicate melting of ice on the centaur.

"Centaurs may have started further out in the solar system and, through gravitational interactions with giant planets, have had their orbits perturbed closer in to the sun. The frozen material that would have been stable out past Pluto is becoming less stable closer in, and can turn into gases that spray dust and material off the surface of a body," said Jessica Ruprecht, another author of the study.