Space & astronomy · the experiment
Find the ring of Epsilon Eridani b
Roman's coronagraph masks the star; the planet and its ring blur into a single dot. Tune the simulation's Saturn-like ring and read its fingerprint in the light curve along the orbit.
1 · Tilt the ring
Beginner
A ring lying in the plane of the orbit: what does Roman see?
Here is the ring lying in the plane of the orbit. Tilt it until the light curve shows four extremes.
2 · Thicken the ring
Intermediate
Saturn-like ring: inner radius 1.5 times the planet's, outer radius 2.3 times. Seen face-on, how many planet discs does it cover?
The ring is tilted by 30°, with an optical depth τ = 1. Thicken it until the second maximum vanishes from the curve.
3 · Count the detections
Intermediate
If a quarter of giant planets have rings, the article expects about five detections from some twenty targets. What about forty targets?
4 · View the orbit face-on
Expert
Orbit seen exactly face-on (i = 0°), ring tilted by 30°: what does the curve look like?
Ring spotted
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