Jan 052014
Few things would be as visually spectacular as a ring system about an Earth-like world. And there may be evidence that Earth has just such a ring system… just one composed of dark matter, not regular matter:
GPS satellites suggest Earth is heavy with dark matter
Much more of the universe is composed of dark matter than regular matter. But since dark matter does not interact with the electromagnetic force, both regular matter and photons go right through it likes it’s not there. However, dark and regular matter *do* interact gravitationally. And it *seems* that the Earth may have picked up a disk of dark matter 191 km thick and 70,000 km in diameter. The data seems very preliminary, and I bet further analysis may well tear the conclusions to shreds, but it’s a neat idea.