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Ring system. The moons Prometheus (right) and Pandora (left) orbit just inside and outside, respectively, the F ring of Saturn, but only Prometheus is thought to function as a shepherd moon. A ring system is a disc or torus orbiting an astronomical object that is composed of solid material such as gas, dust, meteoroids, planetoids or moonlets ...
The inner Solar System is the region comprising the terrestrial planets and the asteroids. [ 89 ] Composed mainly of silicates and metals, [ 90 ] the objects of the inner Solar System are relatively close to the Sun; the radius of this entire region is less than the distance between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn.
Neptune is not visible to the unaided eye and is the only planet in the Solar System that was found from mathematical predictions derived from indirect observations rather than being initially observed by direct empirical observation, when unexpected changes in the orbit of Uranus led Alexis Bouvard to hypothesise that its orbit was subject to ...
The rings of Saturn are the most extensive and complex ring system of any planet in the Solar System. They consist of countless small particles, ranging in size from micrometers to meters, [1] that orbit around Saturn. The ring particles are made almost entirely of water ice, with a trace component of rocky material.
The Day the Earth Smiled. Earth can be seen as a blue dot underneath the rings of Saturn. The photomosaic from NASA's "Wave at Saturn" campaign. The collage includes some 1,600 photos taken by members of the public on The Day the Earth Smiled. The Day the Earth Smiled is a composite photograph taken by the NASA spacecraft Cassini on July 19, 2013.
Uranus' ring system was the second to be discovered in the Solar System, after that of Saturn. [9] In 1982, on the fifth anniversary of the rings' discovery, Uranus along with the eight other planets recognized at the time (i.e. including Pluto) aligned on the same side of the Sun. [10] [11]
2060 Chiron. 2060 Chiron is a ringed small Solar System body in the outer Solar System, orbiting the Sun between Saturn and Uranus. Discovered in 1977 by Charles Kowal, it was the first-identified member of a new class of objects now known as centaurs —bodies orbiting between the asteroid belt and the Kuiper belt.
The rings of the Solar System's gas giants are aligned with their planet's equator. However, for exoplanets that orbit close to their star, tidal forces from the star would lead to the outermost rings of a planet being aligned with the planet's orbital plane around the star.