- #1
- 37,487
- 14,377
At least that is the interpretation of the scientists - 200 times larger than the system around Saturn, and thick enough to make a complicated light curve during stellar transit.
The transit happened in 2007 and took nearly two months. A gap in the ring system hints at an exomoon. As they just observed one transit, it is not certain that the object is bound - if it is, they suggest an orbital period of roughly 13 years which would give another transit in 2020.
BBC news
paper at arXiv
The BBC article has a picture how the sky would look like if Saturn had such a ring system - science is the best science fiction. But they really need a better star name, 1SWASP J140747.93-394542.6 is a bit clumsy.
The transit happened in 2007 and took nearly two months. A gap in the ring system hints at an exomoon. As they just observed one transit, it is not certain that the object is bound - if it is, they suggest an orbital period of roughly 13 years which would give another transit in 2020.
BBC news
paper at arXiv
The BBC article has a picture how the sky would look like if Saturn had such a ring system - science is the best science fiction. But they really need a better star name, 1SWASP J140747.93-394542.6 is a bit clumsy.