Planetary rings around Earth-like planet

sobota 2016‐04‐02 11:45 – 12:15
  • Astronomický ústav, Akademie věd České republiky

Nowadays, two models of formation of planetary ring systems are known. The first one, the tidal splitting scenario describes what happens with a satelite when it transits planet’s Roche zone. In the second one, satellite is crushed because of collisions with smaller bodies, appearing in the Solar System during e.g. Late Heavy Bombardment. Do we really observe what these two models predict? How do planetary rings form? What is more, why do they exist for such long timescales? Is their presence in planetary system understood at all? In my presentation I will introduce theory on ring system formation and discuss possibilities of their presence around terrestrial planets.