Mysterious Ring on a Dwarf Planet.

• In a new study, scientists discovered that the dwarf planet Quaoar near Pluto has with rings at unusual distance.
• The rings of Quaoar (named after a god of creation in Native American mythology) are positioned at a distance of over seven planetary radii (distance between a planet’s centre and its surface) which is much further away from other planets that possess rings.
• Planetary rings possess small chunks of ice and other materials that orbit a larger object.
• Only Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, including two other minor planets, Chariklo and Haumea, are known to possess rings.

About Quaoar

• Discovered in 2002, Quaoar is currently defined as a minor planet and is proposed as a dwarf planet.
• Its diameter of about 700 miles (1,110 km) is about a third that of Earth’s moon and half that of the dwarf planet Pluto. It has a small moon called Weywot, Quaoar’s son in mythology, with a diameter of 105 miles (170 km) orbiting beyond the ring.
• Inhabiting a distant region called the Kuiper belt populated by various icy bodies, Quaoar orbits about 43 times further than Earth’s distance to the sun. In comparison, Neptune, the outermost planet, orbits about 30 times further than Earth’s distance from the sun, and Pluto about 39 times further.