No evidence of rings around Neptune

Observations of two stellar occultations by Neptune were used to search for possible equatorial and polar rings. No ring occultation events were identified, and an upper limit of 0.07 can be placed on the optical depth of any equatorial rings greater than 5 km wide with radii greater than 31,400 km....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1981-12, Vol.294 (5841), p.526-529
Main Authors: Elliot, J. L, Mink, D. J, Elias, J. H, Baron, R. L, Dunham, E, Pingree, J. E, French, R. G, Liller, W, Nicholson, P. D, Jones, T. J, Franz, O. G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Humanities and Social Sciences
multidisciplinary
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
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Summary:Observations of two stellar occultations by Neptune were used to search for possible equatorial and polar rings. No ring occultation events were identified, and an upper limit of 0.07 can be placed on the optical depth of any equatorial rings greater than 5 km wide with radii greater than 31,400 km. Any ring system of Neptune must be much less extensive than the ring systems of Uranus and Saturn, but a jovian-type ring of low optical depth would have escaped detection by our search.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/294526a0