Rings under close encounters with the giant planets: Chariklo vs Chiron

Abstract

In 2014, the discovery of two well-defined rings around the Centaur (10199) Chariklo were announced. This was the first time that such structures were found around a small body. In 2015, it was proposed that the Centaur (2060) Chiron may also have a ring. In a previous study, we analyzed how close encounters with giant planets would affect the rings of Chariklo. The most likely result is the survival of the rings. In the present work, we broaden our analysis to (2060) Chiron. In addition to Chariklo, Chiron is currently the only known Centaur with a presumed ring. By applying the same method as \cite{araujo2016}, we performed numerical integrations of a system composed of 729 clones of Chiron, the Sun, and the giant planets. The number of close encounters that disrupted the ring of Chiron during one half-life of the study period was computed. This number was then compared to the number of close encounters for Chariklo. We found that the probability of Chiron losing its ring due to close encounters with the giant planets is about six times higher than that for Chariklo. Our analysis showed that, unlike Chariklo, Chiron is more likely to remain in an orbit with a relatively low inclination and high eccentricity. Thus, we found that the bodies in Chiron-like orbits are less likely to retain rings than those in Chariklo-like orbits. Overall, for observational purposes, we conclude that the bigger bodies in orbits with high inclinations and low eccentricities should be prioritized.

arXiv comment8 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

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Cited by in corpus (3)

• Refined physical parameters for Chariklo's body and rings from stellar occultations observed between 2013 and 2020
• The invisible threat: assessing the collisional hazard posed by the undiscovered Venus co-orbital asteroids
• Gravitational disturbance on asteroidal ring systems by close encounter with a small object