Weird Exoplanets
This is the text version of the interactive 3D documentary. 한국어
All exoplanets › Part 4: Strange shapes
J1407b
Rings about 200 times bigger than Saturn’s (unconfirmed)
View in 3D · narrated- Distance
- about 450 light-years (about 4,300 trillion km, 450 years at light speed)
- Type
- Giant planet or brown dwarf (unconfirmed)
- Size
- Rings about 180 million km across (planet size unknown)
- Star
- J1407 (V1400 Centauri)
- Year (orbit)
- Unknown
- Temperature
- Unknown
- Found
- Announced in 2012
This planet is still an unconfirmed candidate.
About 450 light-years, toward Centaurus
J1407 is a young star about 450 light-years away, toward the constellation Centaurus. In 2007, over 56 days, it dimmed and brightened again and again. It looked as if something wearing giant rings had passed in front of it.
View this scene in 3D →Rings about 200 times Saturn’s
Researchers calculated that the thing crossing the star had more than 30 rings. The rings are about 180 million km across, wider than the distance from Earth to the Sun. The researchers said they are about 200 times bigger than Saturn’s rings. Moons might be forming in the gaps between them.
Why?The star is only about 16 million years old, which is very young. So these rings may not be old like Saturn’s, but a dusty disk where moons are still being made.
Learn moreNothing like it has been seen again since. So J1407b is still an unconfirmed candidate. It might not orbit the star at all, but be a lone object that happened to drift in front of it.
View this scene in 3D →Sources: Wikipedia: V1400 Centauri
Distances and facts come from published research and NASA, as noted under each planet. The 3D close-ups are artist’s views based on that research, not photographs. Distances to faraway stars can carry some uncertainty.