Editing 2060 Chiron (section)

== Rings ==
[[File:Chiron_in_Celestia.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Depiction of Chiron and its rings]]
Chiron has [[planetary ring|rings]], similar to the better-established [[Rings of Chariklo|rings of]] [[10199 Chariklo]].<ref name="Ortiz2015" /><ref name="Lakdawalla2015" /><ref name="spacedaily" /><ref group=lower-alpha name=Haumea/> Based on unexpected occultation events observed in stellar-occultation data obtained on 7 November 1993, 9 March 1994, and 29 November 2011, which were initially interpreted as resulting from jets associated with Chiron's comet-like activity, Chiron's rings were proposed to be {{val|324|10|u=km}} in radius and sharply defined. The rings' changing appearance at different viewing angles can largely explain the long-term variation in Chiron's brightness and hence estimates of Chiron's albedo and size. Moreover, it can, by assuming that the water ice is in Chiron's rings, explain the changing intensity of the infrared water-ice absorption bands in Chiron's spectrum, including their disappearance in 2001 (when the rings were edge-on). Also, the geometric albedo of Chiron's rings as determined by spectroscopy is consistent with that used to explain Chiron's long-term brightness variations.<ref name="Ortiz2015" />

Further evidence of the rings was provided by two independent observations of occultations on 28 November 2018 and 15 December 2022, which suggests that their structure is constantly evolving.<ref name="Ortiz2023"/> In the 2018 event Chiron's rings were observed to have less material than in 2011, but seemed to be developing a partial third ring; by the 2022 event there was more material than either of the previous observations, and the third ring had become fully developed.<ref name="Sickafoose2023">{{cite journal |last1=Sickafoose |first1=Amanda A. |last2=Levine |first2=Stephen E. |last3=Bosh |first3=Amanda S. |last4=Person |first4=Michael J. |last5=Zuluaga |first5=Carlos A. |last6=Knieling |first6=Bastian |last7=Lewis |first7=Mark C. |last8=Schindler |first8=Karsten |title=Material around the Centaur (2060) Chiron from the 2018 November 28 UT Stellar Occultation |journal=The Planetary Science Journal |date=1 November 2023 |volume=4 |issue=11 |pages=221 |doi=10.3847/PSJ/ad0632 |arxiv=2310.16205 |bibcode=2023PSJ.....4..221S |doi-access=free }}</ref> J.L. Ortiz speculated that the extra material in the 2022 event could be from an outburst observed in 2021, which left more material in orbit and thus bolstered the generation of the third ring–this is also expected to be cyclical, maintaining the rings.<ref name="Ortiz2023"/>

The preferred pole of Chiron's rings is, in [[Ecliptic coordinate system|ecliptic coordinates]], ''λ'' = {{val|151|8|u=deg}}, ''β'' = {{val|18|11|u=deg}}. The rings' width, separation, and optical depths were observed to be nearly identical to those of Chariklo's rings until the 2018 observation, indicating that the same type of structure had been responsible for both. Moreover, both their rings are within their respective [[Roche limit]]s, though Chiron's newly developed third ring may be outside of it depending on its density.<ref name="Ortiz2015"/><ref name="Ortiz2023"/>