Astronomers have indicated the presence of a Saturn-like planet at about 116 light years from the Earth. The dwarf planet has a massive and complex ring structure, which beats that of Saturn’s both in size and complexity. Observations also hint that the star’s complex ring structure has at least one big exomoon. Scientists also believe that the repeated dimming of the star over several days could be due to the presence of more than one exomoon.
The dwarf in context here is referred to as the J1407, and it is part of an orange dwarf sequence. Scientists based their conclusions on the potential make-up of the star on the observations that were made in 2007. Over a course of 57 days, the star was seen to go through a number of eclipses. A team of astronomers explain the phenomenon to be a result of a complex ring formation around the massive orbiting exoplanet. The ring system was noticed to be of varying densities, which suggest the presence of an exomoon. Scientists also believe that there could be more exomoons in the process of formation.
According to the University of Rochester, New York’s professor at the department of physics and astronomy, Eric Mamajek, the planet is a Super-Saturn. It is bigger than even Jupiter, he said. He had led a study on the star that was first published in 2012. The observations were carried out via the SuperWASP program. The approach deploys telescopes on the ground that detects faint dimming of stars that could be because of transiting exoplanets.
More research on the star later led to the understanding that it has as many as 37 main ring structures. Interestingly, it also informed that the structures have a large gap that is huge enough to accommodate an Earth-sized satellite. Detailed results have been published in the Astrophysical Journal.