Ring system
Rings around exoplanets

Because all giant planets of the Solar System have rings, the existence of exoplanets with rings is plausible. Although particles of ice, the material that is predominant in the rings of Saturn, can only exist around planets beyond the frost line, within this line rings consisting of rocky material can be stable in the long term. Such ring systems can be detected for planets observed by the transit method by additional reduction of the light of the central star if their opacity is sufficient. As of 2024, two candidate extrasolar ring systems have been found by this method, around HIP 41378 f and K2-33b.

Fomalhaut b was found to be large and unclearly defined when detected in 2008. This was hypothesized to either be due to a cloud of dust attracted from the dust disc of the star, or a possible ring system, though in 2020 Fomalhaut b itself was determined to very likely be an expanding debris cloud from a collision of asteroids rather than a planet. Similarly, Proxima Centauri c has been observed to be far brighter than expected for its low mass of 7 Earth masses, which may be attributed to a ring system of about 5 R.

A 56-day-long sequence of dimming events in the star V1400 Centauri observed in 2007 was interpreted as a substellar object with a circumstellar disk or massive rings transiting the star. This substellar object, dubbed " J1407b ", is most likely a free-floating brown dwarf or rogue planet several times the mass of Jupiter. The circumstellar disk or ring system of J1407b is about 0.6 astronomical units (90,000,000 km; 56,000,000 mi) in radius. J1407b's transit of V1400 Centauri revealed gaps and density variations within its disk or ring system, which has been interpreted as hints of exomoons or exoplanets forming around J1407b.
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