Astronomers and Their Seven Telescopes Spot First-Ever Asteroid with Rings

Chariklo is an asteroid-like object located between Saturn and Uranus. It only measures 154 miles across, which makes it a relatively insignificant part of outer space. However, it does possess one unique characteristic.

Chariklo is known as a centaur, which is a small solar system body with a semi-major axis located between two planets. They got the name "centaur" because they span over the two realms of rocky asteroids and icy comets, relating to the mythological creature that has the torso, head, and arms of a man and the body and legs of a horse.

These objects are considered to be strange in the scientific world, but they've been more prevalent in recent years. Many circulate between planets on unstable orbits, and have been seen near Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn, and Uranus. Still, there are only a few hundred documented in outer space.

Chariklo was discovered in 1997 and has been closely examined ever since because it is the largest of the centaur class. Felipe Braga-Ribas of the National Observatory in Brazil led the team of astronomers that found Chariklo's unique characteristic: it has rings around it. Back in June of 2013, Braga-Ribas and his team were using seven telescopes to observe Chariklo and measure its size and shape after it passed a distant star. But they witnessed a pattern of light dips, initially believing that the centaur was giving off jets of gas. When it passes the starlight, the astronomers noticed that Chariklo had rings, which was causing the light dips.

"This probably will be the biggest discovery of my career," says Felipe Braga-Ribas in this National Geographic article. "It was a complete surprise."

The rings are four and two miles wide and are 243 and 251 miles from Chariklo's center. It is unknown how this centaur got its rings, but scientists and astronomers are excited about the discovery because it may provide insight toward how rings form around a body in space.

To read more about Chariklo and its rings, visit this Fox News article.