The rings discovered around an old asteroid is when science fiction becomes a science fact.

The asteroid, named Chariklo, with its newly discovered rings, orbits in a region between Saturn and Uranus. This is an unprecedented scientific discovery for researchers, and astronomers alike.

According to ScienceMag.com, the newly discovered ring system answers a couple of mysteries. Joseph Burns, a planetary scientist at Cornell University, stated that since Chariklo's discovery in 1997, its brightness gradually dropped by about 40 percent reaching a low in 2008. During that same period, signs of water ice, certain wavelengths missing from the light reflected back toward Earth, faded.

Since 2008 though, Chariklo has regained its brightness and its watery signature. Chariklo is the size of Massachusetts, making it the largest known asteroid in the neighborhood. Chariklo is the fifth "planet" with rings in Earth's solar system, alongside Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn, Wired.com reported.

The discovery may help scientists to develop better computer models of how rings behave and evolve. The particles in Chariklo's rings take about 10 hours to orbit the asteroid.

They are two theories as to how the rings were formed. Firstly, there was perhaps a slow-motion collision with a smaller asteroid or comet, once it blasted its debris into orbit, along with the gravitational pull, Chariklo captured the largest bits of debris, and perhaps shepherded the smaller bits into a ring.

The second theory, is that a loosely consolidated object, possibly a comet, passing near Chariklo was captured to become a satellite, but subsequently was ripped apart by gravitational interactions with its new parent.

Chariklo is classified as a "centaur," an object that has an unstable orbit, and that it crosses giant planet orbits. Mythological centaurs have both human and horse features, Chariklo is no myth. Centaurs like Chariklo have both comet and asteroid characteristics, CNN Tech reported.

The LA Times reported that the discovery came when an international team of scientists observed Chariklo passing in front of a distant star. Using a technique known as occultation, they took careful measurements of how long the asteroid blocked the star's light.

The scientists, led by Felipe Braga-Ribas of Brazil's National Observatory in Rio de Janeiro, were hoping to get a more precise idea of the centaur's size. But something unexpected happened. The star's light went out briefly twice, then for a long time, and then briefly twice again. Something around Chariklo was clearly blocking the star as well.

Scientists are informally calling these rings Oiapoque and Chui, after rivers near the northern and southern ends of Brazil. Braga-Ribas believes that Chariklo has perhaps small moons keeping the rings in place.