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Welcome, my name is Phil, and in this video I take a Iook at Quaoar which is a minor planet with an unsual ring system orbiting it.

Unlike many of the other rings found around planets and other minor planets in the Solar Syste, Quaoar's ring sits out the Roche Limit. The Roche Limit is the distance that a moon or satellite can be before the gravitational tides from a larger object, like a planet, pull it apart. At the Roche limit the gravitational tides from the planet are balanced by the self gravity of the satellite. At closer distances the satellite is pulled apart. When further away from the Roche limit the satellite can hold itself together under its own gravitational forces.

When a ring is situated outside the Roche Limit it is expected to be very short lived, and quickly form into moons. However, this does not appear to be the case with Quaoar's ring.

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