Centaur 10199 Chariklo (Illustration)

This illustration shows what the Centaur Chariklo and its rings could look like, based on our current understanding.

Chariklo is the largest of the known Centaur population, located more than 2 billion miles away between the orbit of Saturn and Uranus. Chariklo is only 160 miles across (250 kilometers or about 1/50th of Earth’s diameter), and its rings orbit at a distance of about 250 miles (400 kilometers) from the center of the body.

This illustration is based on previous observations of Chariklo. Webb has not captured a direct image of Chariklo, but has observed an occultation event in which Chariklo’s rings passed in front of a background star.

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