Guests: John Batchelor, Dr. Bruno Morgado, Dr. David Livingston.  Topics:  The discovery of a ring around the very distant and frigid possible dwarf planet Quaoar.

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John Batchelor and I welcomed DR. BRUNO MORGADO to the program to discuss his discovery using the transit method of a ring around the very distant and very cold minor planet, also a possible candidate for being a dwarf planet, Quaoar.  Our guest talked about the methodology he used for discovering the ring and how it happened given a minor planet Kuiper Belt region telescope survey. Our guest also talked about how the discovery has challenged theories on planetary ring formation.  In addition to listening to this program, I urge you to check out many of the more detailed articles on the discovery such as the one in Sky and Telescope titled "Astronomers astonished by ring around frigid distant world Quaoar."  Another good article was published in Science and Exploration by ESA titled "ESA's Cheops finds an unexpected ring around dwarf planet Quaoar."

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You can email Mr. Batchelor or Dr. Morgado through me at drspace@thespaceshow.com. Dr. Morgado can also be reached through his Rio university faculty page available with a simple Google search.