<p>They probably would look much like <a href="https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Kuijken/Kuijken_contents.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">warped galactic disks</a>, something we observe. For our own galaxy, the warp is <a href="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2023/09/harvard-astronomers-find-explanation-for-milky-ways-warp/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">perhaps also due to misaligned orbits</a>, in this case within its dark matter halo.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-22T14:54:40.663Z
One of your links refers to the Milky Way warp, which helped me conceptualise the warp of rings, so thank you!
SaintDiabolus
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-22T14:49:18.743Z
2023-12-22T14:49:18.743Z
John Doty
<p>I read a little bit about extrasolar gas giants and planets with rings, and stumbled upon <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-637X/734/2/117/pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">the paper &quot;Warm Saturns: On The Nature Of Rings Around Extrasolar Planets That Reside Inside The Ice Line&quot;</a> by Schlichting and Chang in which they state that extrasolar planets with semi-major axes of &lt;1 AU that fall inside the ice line may have rings made of rocks. They say that these rings would be warped &quot;such that their rings will lie in the planet's equatorial plane inside of (the laplace radius) <span class="math-container">$R_L$</span>, but coincide with the orbital plane outside of <span class="math-container">$R_L$</span>&quot; (p.5). I've tried to find pictures that show what 'warped rings' could look like but searching for 'planet with warped rings' gives me different results (I think?), namely planet-forming discs, not rings around an existing planet.</p>
<p>What would these warped rings likely look like? Pictures of planets in the solar system with rings usually show the rings as even and flat, aligned with the centre of the planet (unless changed by seasons). Would warped rings be 'misaligned'? Or would different rings have different angles?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-22T16:04:56.523Z
@ProfRob If I have the formulas from the article right, it should be the Laplace radius? Not that I know what that means
SaintDiabolus
<exoplanet><saturn-rings>
Warped rings of extrasolar planets or "warm Saturns"
SaintDiabolus
# Warped rings of extrasolar planets or "warm Saturns"

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-12-22)

I read a little bit about extrasolar gas giants and planets with rings, and stumbled upon [the paper "Warm Saturns: On The Nature Of Rings Around Extrasolar Planets That Reside Inside The Ice Line"](https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-637X/734/2/117/pdf) by Schlichting and Chang in which they state that extrasolar planets with semi-major axes of <1 AU that fall inside the ice line may have rings made of rocks. They say that these rings would be warped "such that their rings will lie in the planet's equatorial plane inside of (the laplace radius) $R\_L$, but coincide with the orbital plane outside of $R\_L$" (p.5). I've tried to find pictures that show what 'warped rings' could look like but searching for 'planet with warped rings' gives me different results (I think?), namely planet-forming discs, not rings around an existing planet.

What would these warped rings likely look like? Pictures of planets in the solar system with rings usually show the rings as even and flat, aligned with the centre of the planet (unless changed by seasons). Would warped rings be 'misaligned'? Or would different rings have different angles?

**Tags:** exoplanet, saturn-rings

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: @ProfRob If I have the formulas from the article right, it should be the Laplace radius? Not that I know what that means  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2023-12-22. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

They probably would look much like [warped galactic disks](https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Kuijken/Kuijken_contents.html), something we observe. For our own galaxy, the warp is [perhaps also due to misaligned orbits](https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2023/09/harvard-astronomers-find-explanation-for-milky-ways-warp/), in this case within its dark matter halo.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: One of your links refers to the Milky Way warp, which helped me conceptualise the warp of rings, so thank you!  

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