A ring system detected around the Centaur (10199) Chariklo (original) (raw)

References

  1. Tiscareno, M. S. in Planets, Stars and Stellar Systems Vol. 3 Solar and Stellar Planetary Systems (eds Oswalt, T. D., French, L. M. & Kalas, P. ) 309–375 (Springer, 2013)
    Book Google Scholar
  2. Fornasier, S. et al. TNOs are cool: A survey of the trans-Neptunian region VIII. Combined Herschel PACS and SPIRE observations of nine bright targets at 70–500 _µ_m. Astron. Astrophys. 555, A15 (2013)
    Article Google Scholar
  3. Belskaya, I. N. et al. Polarimetry of Centaurs (2060) Chiron, (5145) Pholus and (10199) Chariklo. Icarus 210, 472–479 (2010)
    Article ADS Google Scholar
  4. Guilbert, A. et al. A portrait of Centaur 10199 Chariklo. Astron. Astrophys. 501, 777–784 (2009)
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  5. Guilbert-Lepoutre, A. A thermal evolution model of Centaur 10199 Chariklo. Astron. J. 141, 103 (2011)
    Article ADS Google Scholar
  6. Horner, J., Evans, N. W. & Bailey, M. E. Simulations of the population of Centaurs - I. The bulk statistics. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 354, 798–810 (2004)
    Article ADS Google Scholar
  7. Camargo, J. I. B. et al. Candidate stellar occultations by Centaurs and trans-Neptunian objects up to 2014. Astron. Astrophys. 561, A37 (2014)
    Article Google Scholar
  8. Harpsøe, K. B. W., Jørgensen, U. G., Andersen, M. I. & Grundahl, F. High frame rate imaging based photometry. Photometric reduction of data from electron-multiplying charge coupled devices (EMCCDs). Astron. Astrophys. 542, A23 (2012)
    Article ADS Google Scholar
  9. Skottfelt, J. et al. EMCCD photometry reveals two new variable stars in the crowded central region of the globular cluster NGC 6981. Astron. Astrophys. 553, A111 (2013)
    Article Google Scholar
  10. French, R. G., Nicholson, P. D., Porco, C. C. & Marouf, E. A. in Uranus (eds Bergstralh, J. T., Miner, E. D. & Matthews, M. S. ) 327–409 (Univ. Arizona Press, 1991)
    Google Scholar
  11. Colwell, J. E. et al. in Saturn from Cassini-Huygens (eds Dougherty, M. K., Esposito, L. W. & Krimigis, S. M. ) 375–412 (Springer, 2009)
  12. Esposito, L. W., Brahic, A., Burns, J. A. & Marouf, E. A. in Uranus (eds Bergstralh, J. T., Miner, E. D. & Matthews, M. S. ) 410–465 (Univ. Arizona Press, 1991)
    Google Scholar
  13. Karkoschka, E. Comprehensive photometry of the rings and 16 satellites of Uranus with the Hubble Space Telescope. Icarus 151, 51–68 (2001)
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  14. Hedman, M. M. et al. Connections between spectra and structure in Saturn’s main rings based on Cassini VIMS data. Icarus 223, 105–130 (2013)
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  15. Tiscareno, M. S., Hedman, M. M., Burns, J. A. & Castillo-Rogez, J. Compositions and origins of outer planet systems: insights from the Roche critical density. Astrophys. J. 765, L28 (2013)
    Article ADS Google Scholar
  16. Goldreich, P. & Tremaine, S. Towards a theory for the Uranian rings. Nature 277, 97–99 (1979)
    Article ADS Google Scholar
  17. Elliot, J. L. et al. Size and albedo of Kuiper belt object 55636 from a stellar occultation. Nature 465, 897–900 (2010)
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  18. Sicardy, B. et al. A Pluto-like radius and a high albedo for the dwarf planet Eris from an occultation. Nature 478, 493–496 (2011)
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  19. Ortiz, J. L. et al. Albedo and atmospheric constraints of dwarf planet Makemake from a stellar occultation. Nature 491, 566–569 (2012)
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  20. Braga-Ribas, F. et al. The size, shape, albedo, density, and atmospheric limit of Transneptunian object (50000) Quaoar from multi-chord stellar occultations. Astrophys. J. 773, 26 (2013)
    Article ADS Google Scholar
  21. Bus, S. J. et al. Stellar occultation by 2060 Chiron. Icarus 123, 478–490 (1996)
    Article ADS Google Scholar
  22. Elliot, J. L. et al. Jet-like features near the nucleus of Chiron. Nature 373, 46–49 (1995)
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  23. Brunini, A. On the dynamical evolution and end states of binary Centaurs. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 437, 2297–2302 (2014)
    Article ADS Google Scholar
  24. Noll, K. S., Grundy, W. M., Chiang, E. I., Margot, J.-L. & Kern, S. D. in The Solar System Beyond Neptune (eds Barucci, M. A., Boehnhardt, H., Cruikshank, D. P. & Morbidelli, A. ) 345–363 (Univ. Arizona Press, 2008)
    Google Scholar
  25. Ortiz, J. L. et al. Rotational fission of trans-Neptunian objects: the case of Haumea. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 419, 2315–2324 (2012)
    Article ADS Google Scholar
  26. Ćuk, M., Ragozzine, D. & Nesvorný, D. On the dynamics and origin of Haumea’s moons. Astron. J. 146, 89 (2013)
    Article ADS Google Scholar
  27. Nogueira, E., Brasser, R. & Gomes, R. Reassessing the origin of Triton. Icarus 214, 113–130 (2011)
    Article ADS Google Scholar

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank S. Fornasier, I. Belskaya, B. Carry, E. Nogueira, P. Michel and A. Morbidelli for the discussions that helped to interpret our results. We also thank J. A. Burns for comments that helped to improve the paper. F.B.-R. acknowledges LIneA (Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia) for hosting the campaign webpage and the support (grant 150541/2013-9) of CNPq, Brazil. Operation of the Danish 1.54-m telescope is financed by a grant to U.G.J. by the Danish Natural Science Research Council (FNU) and by the Centre for Star and Planet Formation (StarPlan). F. Colas, J.L., L. Maquet, F. Roques, B.S., F.V. and T.W. acknowledge support from the French grant ‘Beyond Neptune II’. J.L.O., R.D. and N. Morales acknowledge funding from Spanish AYA grants and FEDER funds. S.-h.G. and X.-b.W. are grateful for financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China through grants 10873031 and 11073051. M.D. is a Royal Society University Research Fellow at St Andrews University. TRAPPIST is a project funded by the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (FRS-FNRS) with the participation of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF). E.J. and M.G. are FNRS Research Associates, J.M. is FNRS Research Director. C.O. thanks the Belgian FNRS for funding her PhD thesis. J.I.B.C., M.A. and R.V.-M. acknowledge CNPq grants 302657/2010-0, 482080/2009-4 478318/2007-3 and 304124/2007-9, respectively. The Universidad Católica Observatory (UCO) Santa Martina is operated by the Pontifícia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC). C.S. received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 268421. M.R. acknowledges support from FONDECYT postdoctoral fellowship 3120097. This work is partly based on observations made at the Pico dos Dias Observatory from the National Laboratory of Astrophysics (OPD/LNA) – Brazil; and partly based on observations obtained at the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope, which is a joint project of the Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia, e Inovação (MCTI) da República Federativa do Brasil, the US National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) and Michigan State University (MSU). This publication makes use of data products from the Two Micron All Sky Survey, a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). It also makes use of data products from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, which is a joint project of the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, funded by NASA. UNC-CH gratefully acknowledges NSF awards 0959447, 1009052 and 1211782 for support of Skynet/PROMPT. L.V. and R.L. acknowledge support by CONICYT through the project Anillo ACT-86. A.M. acknowledges the use of C. Harlingten’s 20-inch Planewave telescope, which is part of the Searchlight Observatory Network.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Observatório Nacional/MCTI, Rua General José Cristino 77, CEP 20921-400 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil,
    F. Braga-Ribas, R. Vieira-Martins, J. I. B. Camargo, G. Benedetti-Rossi & F. Roig
  2. LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS UMR 8109, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Université Paris-Diderot, 5 place Jules Janssen, F-92195 Meudon Cedex, France,
    B. Sicardy, F. Roques, E. Lellouch, N. Ligier, L. Maquet, P. Kervella, M. El Moutamid, J. Lecacheux & T. Widemann
  3. Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, CSIC, Apartado 3004, 18080 Granada, Spain,
    J. L. Ortiz, R. Duffard & N. Morales
  4. Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 3, 37077 Göttingen, Germany,
    C. Snodgrass
  5. Observatório do Valongo/UFRJ, Ladeira Pedro Antonio 43, CEP 20.080-090 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil,
    R. Vieira-Martins, M. Assafin & A. Ramos Gomes
  6. Observatoire de Paris, IMCCE, UPMC, CNRS, 77 Avenue Denfert-Rochereau, 75014 Paris, France,
    R. Vieira-Martins, M. El Moutamid, F. Colas & F. Vachier
  7. Institut d’Astrophysique de l’Université de Liège, Allée du 6 Août 17, B-4000 Liège, Belgium,
    E. Jehin, M. Gillon, J. Manfroid & C. Opitom
  8. Physics and Astronomy Department, Appalachian State University, Boone, 28608, North Carolina, USA
    J. Pollock
  9. Instituto de Astrofísica, Facultad de Física, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avenida Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago 7820436, Chile,
    R. Leiva & M. Rabus
  10. Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa, O.A. - DEGEO, Avenida Carlos Cavalcanti 4748, Ponta Grossa 84030-900, PR, Brazil,
    M. Emilio & L. Mehret
  11. Polo Astronômico Casimiro Montenegro Filho/FPTI-BR, Avenida Tancredo Neves 6731, CEP 85867-900, Foz do Iguaçu, PR, Brazil,
    D. I. Machado & L. Lorenzini
  12. Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná (Unioeste), Avenda Tarquínio Joslin dos Santos, 1300, CEP 85870-650, Foz do Iguaçu, PR, Brazil,
    D. I. Machado
  13. Ministerio de Educación de la Provincia de Córdoba, Santa Rosa 751, Córdoba 5000, Argentina,
    C. Colazo
  14. Observatorio Astronómico, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Laprida 854, Córdoba 5000, Argentina,
    C. Colazo, E. M. Schneiter, R. Melia & D. G. Lambas
  15. Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries vej 30, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark,
    J. Skottfelt, K. Harpsøe & U. G. Jørgensen
  16. Centre for Star and Planet Formation, Geological Museum, Øster Voldgade 5, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark,
    J. Skottfelt, K. Harpsøe & U. G. Jørgensen
  17. Instituto de Física e Química, Avenida BPS 1303, CEP 37500-903, Itajubá, MG, Brazil,
    H. Monteiro
  18. UNESP - Universidade Estadual Paulista, Avenida Ariberto Pereira da Cunha, 333, CEP 12516-410 Guaratinguetá, SP, Brazil,
    R. Sfair
  19. Observatorio Astronomico Los Molinos, DICYT, MEC, 12400 Montevideo, Uruguay,
    G. Tancredi, S. Roland, L. Almenares, V. Perez & N. Martinez
  20. Departamento de Astronomia, Facultad Ciencias, Universidad de la República, 11300 Montevideo, Uruguay,
    G. Tancredi, A. Ceretta, L. Almenares, V. Perez, P. Lemos & N. Martinez
  21. Observatorio El Catalejo, Mussio 255, Santa Rosa, La Pampa 6300, Argentina,
    J. Spagnotto
  22. San Pedro de Atacama Celestial Explorations, Casilla 21, San Pedro de Atacama 1410000, Chile,
    A. Maury & R. G. Sandness
  23. Complejo Astronómico El Leoncito (CASLEO) and San Juan National University, Avenida España 1512 sur, J5402DSP, San Juan, Argentina,
    R. Gil-Hutton
  24. Observatorio del IPA, Consejo de Formación en Educación, 11800 Montevideo, Uruguay,
    A. Ceretta
  25. Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650011, China
    S.-h. Gu & X.-b. Wang
  26. Key Laboratory for the Structure and Evolution of Celestial Objects, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650011, China
    S.-h. Gu & X.-b. Wang
  27. Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany,
    M. Rabus
  28. Department of Electrical Engineering and Center of Astro-Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avenida Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago 7820436, Chile,
    L. Vanzi
  29. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Córdoba 5000, Argentina,
    E. M. Schneiter
  30. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental IATE–CONICET, Córdoba 5000, Argentina,
    E. M. Schneiter & D. G. Lambas
  31. Facultad de Ciências Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (UNC), Córdoba 5000, Argentina,
    E. M. Schneiter
  32. Unidad de Astronomía, Facultad de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad de Antofagasta, Avenida Angamos 601, Antofagasta, Region II, Chile,
    F. Char
  33. Scottish Universities Physics Alliance, University of St Andrews, School of Physics and Astronomy, North Haugh, St Andrews KY16 9SS, UK,
    M. Dominik
  34. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, 27599, North Carolina, USA
    D. E. Reichart, A. P. LaCluyze, J. B. Haislip, K. M. Ivarsen, J. P. Moore & N. R. Frank

Authors

  1. F. Braga-Ribas
  2. B. Sicardy
  3. J. L. Ortiz
  4. C. Snodgrass
  5. F. Roques
  6. R. Vieira-Martins
  7. J. I. B. Camargo
  8. M. Assafin
  9. R. Duffard
  10. E. Jehin
  11. J. Pollock
  12. R. Leiva
  13. M. Emilio
  14. D. I. Machado
  15. C. Colazo
  16. E. Lellouch
  17. J. Skottfelt
  18. M. Gillon
  19. N. Ligier
  20. L. Maquet
  21. G. Benedetti-Rossi
  22. A. Ramos Gomes
  23. P. Kervella
  24. H. Monteiro
  25. R. Sfair
  26. M. El Moutamid
  27. G. Tancredi
  28. J. Spagnotto
  29. A. Maury
  30. N. Morales
  31. R. Gil-Hutton
  32. S. Roland
  33. A. Ceretta
  34. S.-h. Gu
  35. X.-b. Wang
  36. K. Harpsøe
  37. M. Rabus
  38. J. Manfroid
  39. C. Opitom
  40. L. Vanzi
  41. L. Mehret
  42. L. Lorenzini
  43. E. M. Schneiter
  44. R. Melia
  45. J. Lecacheux
  46. F. Colas
  47. F. Vachier
  48. T. Widemann
  49. L. Almenares
  50. R. G. Sandness
  51. F. Char
  52. V. Perez
  53. P. Lemos
  54. N. Martinez
  55. U. G. Jørgensen
  56. M. Dominik
  57. F. Roig
  58. D. E. Reichart
  59. A. P. LaCluyze
  60. J. B. Haislip
  61. K. M. Ivarsen
  62. J. P. Moore
  63. N. R. Frank
  64. D. G. Lambas

Contributions

F.B.-R. planned the observation campaign, centralized the occultation predictions, participated in the observations, analysed data and results, ran the diffraction and limb-fitting codes, and wrote the paper. B.S. helped to plan the campaign, analysed data and results, wrote and ran the diffraction and limb-fitting codes, and wrote the paper. J.L.O. helped to plan the campaign, analysed data for the occultation prediction, and obtained and analysed data and results. C.S. coordinated and analysed the data from Danish 1.54-m telescope. F. Roques analysed data, and wrote and ran the diffraction and limb-fitting codes. R.V.-M. coordinated the predictions and analysed data. J.I.B.C., F.B.-R., R.V.-M. and M.A. discovered the star candidate and analysed data for the occultation prediction. R.D. coordinated the SOAR and Bosque Alegre observations, and helped to analyse the results. E.J., J.P, R.L., M.E., D.I.M., C.C. and J. Spagnotto obtained and analysed the positive occultation detections from the TRAPPIST, PROMPT, UCO Santa Martina, UEPG, Foz do Iguaçu, Bosque Alegre and Danish telescopes, respectively. E.L. helped to analyse the results. J. Skottfelt, M.G., L. Maquet, N.L., G.B.-R. and A.R.G. helped to obtain the occultation light curves or analysed the data, or both. P.K. ran stellar models to determine the apparent star diameter. H.M. obtained the stellar spectrum. R.S. calculated the short-term ring stability. M.E.M. worked on the confinement mechanisms of the rings. G.T., J.P., A.M., N. Morales, R.G.-H., S.R. and A.C. obtained the negative detections. S.-h.G., X.-b.W., K.H., M.R., J.M., C.O., L.V., L. Mehret, L.L., E.M.S. and R.M. helped to obtain and analyse the positive occultation detections. J.L., F. Colas, F.V., T.W. and K.H. helped to make the predictions and analyse the data. L.A., R.G.S., F. Char, V.P., P.L., N. Martinez, U.G.J., M.D., F. Roig, D.E.R., A.P.L., J.B.H., K.M.I., J.P.M., N.R.F. and D.G.L. were involved in event observations. All authors were given the opportunity to review the results and comment on the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence toF. Braga-Ribas.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Extended data figures and tables

Extended Data Figure 1 The Chariklo 3 June 2013 occultation campaign.

The continuous straight lines indicate Chariklo’s shadow track on Earth, and the dotted lines correspond to the ring shadow, as reconstructed from our post-occultation analysis. The shadows move from right to left, as indicated. The red stars indicate the centre of Chariklo’s shadow at various times (utc). The green dots are the sites where the occultation was detected. The blue dots are the sites that had obtained data but did not detect the event, and the white ones are the sites that were clouded out (Extended Data Table 1).

Extended Data Figure 2 The occulted star spectrum and model.

The star spectrum obtained at Pico dos Dias Observatory, Brazil, with the 1.6-m telescope and a Cassegrain spectrograph. Observations were made with the spectrograph configuration, using a grating with 600 lines per millimetre, which gave a resolution of 2.3 Å per pixel covering 3,700–7,700 Å. We obtained three 300-s exposures with a 2-arcsec slit. The calibration was done with the usual procedures and one flux standard star (LTT6248). The thick blue curve represents the observed spectrum. The red, orange and blue thin curves represent ATLAS9 stellar atmosphere models35 used for comparison (see text).

Extended Data Figure 3 The fits to all the ring and Chariklo events.

The black dots are the data points and the horizontal bars indicate the corresponding intervals of acquisition. The light curves are normalized between zero and unity (the latter corresponding to the full flux from the star plus Chariklo), and are shifted vertically for better viewing. They are also displaced in time by the indicated amount Δ_t_, to align the middles of the ring events. The blue curves represent the ring model used to generate the synthetic profiles, which are plotted in red. The ring widths and optical depths for La Silla (Danish and TRAPPIST telescopes) are taken from Extended Data Table 3. For all the other fits, we have used a unique ring model defined by the ring geometry described in Extended Data Table 4, and by the following widths and optical depths: _W_C1R = 6.6 km, _τ_N,C1R = 0.38, _W_C2R = 3.4 km and _τ_N,C2R = 0.06 (Extended Data Table 2). An expanded view of the fits to the Danish data is provided in Fig. 3.

Extended Data Table 1 Circumstances of observations

Full size table

Extended Data Table 2 Timings of the ring events apart from those from the Danish telescope

Full size table

Extended Data Table 3 Physical parameters of rings C1R and C2R

Full size table

Extended Data Table 4 Ring geometry

Full size table

Extended Data Table 5 Timings of the Chariklo event

Full size table

Extended Data Table 6 Chariklo physical properties

Full size table

Supplementary information

PowerPoint slides

Rights and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Braga-Ribas, F., Sicardy, B., Ortiz, J. et al. A ring system detected around the Centaur (10199) Chariklo.Nature 508, 72–75 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13155

Download citation