The stellar occultation campaign revealed a dense, narrow ring around Quaoar.
Method
Multiple chords constrained the ring radius and width.
- Ring radius ~4100 km
- Beyond the Roche limit
A dense ring system detected around Quaoar
Multi-chord occultations revealed a ring orbiting far beyond the classical Roche limit — where moons, not rings, were expected to survive.
Reference
Morgado et al., Nature 2023 · doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05629-6