Is a ring planet possible?
No planet in the center, just a large O shape made up of large chunks of rock that in and of itself itself orbits a sun, as if it were a planet (as distinct from a ringworld). I know most of the time, similar structures tend to coalesce into a planet, but is there any radius with any amount of mass where it would keep itself together with its gravity and yet not form a planet?
Not a solid torus, but a ring of planetoids. (Imagine Saturn but without the planet at the center).
It need not be habitable or earth-like in any extent, I just would like to know if it is possible, to sate my curiosity.
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1 answer
This would not naturally work the way that you describe.
Saturn has rings because the ice and rocks that make it orbit the mass of the planet.
Without that mass, say if Saturn were to fall into a plot hole, the rings would quickly stop being rings and just become a cloud, which would disperse as their momentum no longer had anything holding it in place.
If you were to replace Saturn with a black hole with the mass of Saturn, then the rings would carry on as if nothing had happened.
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