The small distant world called Quaoar, named after a god of creation in Native American mythology, is producing some surprises for astronomers.
. It has a small moon called Weywot, Quaoar’s son in mythology, with a diameter of 105 miles orbiting beyond the ring.
Quaoar’s ring was spotted using the European Space Agency’s orbiting Cheops telescope, whose primary purpose is to study planets beyond our solar system, as well as ground-based telescopes. Unlike any other known ring around a celestial body, Quaoar’s is located outside what is called the Roche limit. That refers to the distance from any celestial body possessing an appreciable gravitational field within which an approaching object would be pulled apart. Material in orbit outside the Roche limit would be expected to assemble into a moon.
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