Astronomers have discovered a Saturn-like ring around Haumea, a dwarf planet located beyond Neptune, the Daily Mail reports.
The mysterious icy world was only discovered in 2004 and this is the first time a ring has been spotted around a body so far out in the solar system.
Experts say the discovery suggests the stunning bands, made up of dust, rocks and ice, are not as rare in our solar system as previously thought.
The find opens up new avenues of research in the trans-Neptunian region, where some scientists believe a mysterious ninth planet may be located.
An international team of researchers, including experts from the Institute Of Astrophysics of Andalusia in Granada, Spain, made the discovery.
Jose Luis Ortiz and colleagues predicted that Haumea would cross paths with the star URAT1 533-182543 and arranged for observations from 12 ground-based telescopes on January 21 this year.
This involved laboratories at 10 different locations, including in the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Slovinia and Slovakia.
They used a technique called ‘stellar occultation’ in which the light from a distant star is blocked when an object passes in front of it.
Using the light from the star, they were able to study the planetoid in unprecedented detail, to measure Haumea’s size, shape and density.
Haumea, which the study confirmed has no atmosphere, is unusual for its elongated and fast-rotating body.
Writing in the report, its authors said: “Here we report observations from multiple Earth-based observatories of Haumea passing in front of a distant star.”
Haumea’s ring was found to lie in the same plane as its equator and as the orbit of its outer moon, Hi’iaka.
The ring has a radius of about 1,420 miles (2,287 km) and a width of 44 miles (70 km).
