Astronomical discovery: 'Super Saturn' with rings 200 times as large By Ben Brumfield, CNNUpdated 0256 GMT (1056 HKT) January 29, 2015Wonders of the universe 17 photosA massive galaxy cluster known as SDSS J1038+4849 looks like a smiley face in an image captured by the Hubble Telescope. The two glowing eyes are actually two distant galaxies. And what of the smile and the round face? That's a result of what astronomers call "strong gravitational lensing." That happens because the gravitational pull between the two galaxy clusters is so strong it distorts time and space around them.Hide Caption 1 of 17Wonders of the universe 17 photosThe Hubble Space Telescope also captured images of Jupiter's three great moons -- Io, Callisto and Europa -- passing by at once.Hide Caption 2 of 17Wonders of the universe 17 photosUsing powerful optics, astronomers have found a planet-like body, J1407b, with rings 200 times the size of Saturn's. This is an artist's depiction of the rings of planet J1407b, which are eclipsing a star.Hide Caption 3 of 17Wonders of the universe 17 photosA patch of stars appears to be missing in this image from the La Silla Observatory in Chile. But the stars are actually still there behind a cloud of gas and dust called Lynds Dark Nebula 483. The cloud is about 700 light years from Earth in the constellation Serpens (The Serpent).Hide Caption 4 of 17Wonders of the universe 17 photosThis is the largest Hubble Space Telescope image ever assembled. It's a portion of the galaxy next door, Andromeda (M31).Hide Caption 5 of 17Wonders of the universe 17 photosNASA has captured a stunning new image of the so-called "Pillars of Creation," one of the space agency's most iconic discoveries. The giant columns of cold gas, in a small region of the Eagle Nebula, were popularized by a similar image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995. Hide Caption 6 of 17Wonders of the universe 17 photosAstronomers using the Hubble Space pieced together this picture that shows a small section of space in the southern-hemisphere constellation Fornax. Within this deep-space image are 10,000 galaxies, going back in time as far as a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.Hide Caption 7 of 17Wonders of the universe 17 photosPlanetary nebula Abell 33 appears ring-like in this image, taken using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. The blue bubble was created when an aging star shed its outer layers and a star in the foreground happened to align with it to create a "diamond engagement ring" effect.Hide Caption 8 of 17Wonders of the universe 17 photosThis long-exposure image from the Hubble Telescope is the deepest-ever picture taken of a cluster of galaxies. The cluster, called Abell 2744, contains several hundred galaxies as they looked 3.5 billion years ago; the more distant galaxies appear as they did more than 12 billion years ago, not long after the Big Bang. Hide Caption 9 of 17Wonders of the universe 17 photosNASA's NuSTAR telescope array generated the first map of radioactivity in the remnants of an exploding star, or supernova. Blue in this image of Cassiopeia A represents radioactive material. Hide Caption 10 of 17Wonders of the universe 17 photosA supernova was spotted on January 21 in Messier 82, one of the nearest big galaxies. This wide view image was taken on January 22.Hide Caption 11 of 17Wonders of the universe 17 photosThe M82 supernova, seen here, has been designated SN2014J because it is the 10th supernova detected in 2014. At 11.4 million light years from Earth, it is the closest Type Ia supernova recorded since systematic studies with telescopes began in the 1930s.Hide Caption 12 of 17Wonders of the universe 17 photosIs that a giant hand waving at us? Actually, it's what's left of a star that died and exploded a long time ago. Astronomers nicknamed it the "Hand of God." NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, took this image in high-energy X-rays, shown in blue. The image was combined with images from another space telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Hide Caption 13 of 17Wonders of the universe 17 photosThe Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, one of the largest and closest galaxies of its kind. The center of the galaxy is mysterious, researchers say, because it has a double nucleus -- a supermassive black hole that may be ringed by a lopsided disc of stars, giving it the appearance of a dual core.Hide Caption 14 of 17Wonders of the universe 17 photosHubble scientists say this is the best-ever view of the Tarantula Nebula, which is located in one of our closest galactic neighbors, the Large Magellanic Cloud.Hide Caption 15 of 17Wonders of the universe 17 photosThose spots on our sun appear small, but even a moderate-sized spot is about as big as Earth. They occur when strong magnetic fields poke through the sun's surface and let the area cool in comparison to the surrounding area.Hide Caption 16 of 17Wonders of the universe 17 photosThis Hubble image looks a floating marble or a maybe a giant, disembodied eye. But it's actually a nebula with a giant star at its center. Scientists think the star used to be 20 times more massive than our sun, but it's dying and is destined to go supernova.Hide Caption 17 of 17Story highlightsScientists have long believed many moons formed from Saturn-like ringsThis is the first time such a system has been spotted outside of our solar system, astronomers say (CNN)In 1610, after he built his telescope, Galileo Galilei first spotted enormous Saturn's gigantic rings. More than 400 years later, astronomers have in a sense dwarfed that discovery with a similar first.Using powerful optics, they have found a much larger planet-like body, J1407b, with rings 200 times the size of Saturn's, U.S. and Dutch astronomers said. It lies some 400 light-years away from Earth.For decades, scientists have believed that many moons around large planets formed out of such ring systems. But this is the first one astronomers have observed outside of our solar system, they said.It was discovered in 2012, but a detailed analysis of its data was recently completed and published. Dominating the skyIf J1407b were in our solar system, it would dominate Earth's nightly sky. "If we could replace Saturn's rings with the rings around J1407b, they would be easily visible at night and be many times larger than the full moon," said Matthew Kenworthy from the Netherlands' Leiden Observatory. RT @mariekebaan: What would J1407b's rings look like around Saturn? #ringenstelsel http://t.co/p4S270TwrP pic.twitter.com/KeJfRHmjur— Matthew Kenworthy (@mattkenworthy) January 26, 2015 Unlike Galileo peering a relatively short distance through his simple telescope, today's astronomers can't eyeball the rings hundreds of light-years away. But using two very powerful optical devices with eight cameras each, they can observe the effect the rings have as they pass across nearby star J1407 -- written without a 'b' at the end. It is similar to our sun. The rings of planet J1407b eclipse its light.56-day eclipseWith the enormous size of the rings, the eclipse the astronomers observed lasted 56 days.But the star did not go completely dark for nearly two months. Some of J1407b's 30 rings are denser, blocking more light, and some of them are less dense, letting more light through. And there are gaps between the rings, leading the scientists to theorize that "exomoons" have formed and cut clean orbits through the debris, like the moons around Saturn.Our own solar system's ringed giant has at least 60 moons, according to NASA. Bigger than a planetLike its system of rings, planet J1407b is also much larger than Saturn, said astrophysicist Eric Mamajek, whose team at the University of Rochester discovered the object. "You could think of it as kind of a super Saturn."It is called a brown dwarf, a size classification somewhere between a planet and a star, according to the California Institute of Technology.Brown dwarfs are hot but don't burst into nuclear fusion the way stars do, so they don't give off light.The scientists are calling on amateur astronomers to keep an eye on star J1407 in hopes they may observe the rings eclipsing it again and report the results to the American Association of Variable Star Observers, which collects astronomical data on "stars that change in brightness."And astronomers will also search for more such ringed systems.Just WatchedNeil Armstrong kept all these in his closet replayMore Videos ...Amazing Outer Space (12)Neil Armstrong kept all these in his closet A look at the world's most powerful rocketHuge asteroid to fly by EarthNASA's New Horizons spacecraft nears PlutoThe helicopter that could explore MarsLost Beagle 2 spacecraft found on MarsThe weird things we sent to spaceA touchdown 10 years in the makingNASA tests supersonic parachute for MarsSee Google exec's dramatic free-fallSee how fuel burns in spaceA water bubble can do THIS in spaceSpace newsComplete coverage: Space + ScienceAsteroid's moon seen during Earth flybyClose encounter with distant Pluto under wayNASA takes new images of dwarf planet CeresAstronaut set to spend one year in spaceDon't forget: Space is dangerousMore Top StoriesFears for Iraqi troop 'collapse within hours''Laugh-In' announcer diesFamily loses 3 children one dayNASA warns of 'megadroughts' Prepare for another winter blast'Fifty Shades of Grey': What the critics sayThe week in 38 photosMore from TechWebsite let's you buy an invisible girlfriend Obama: Cyber threats challenge the nation's securityAdolescentes: ¿mucha tecnología y poco sueño? 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