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jdavidb writes:

This is breathtaking.

A series of weird star eclipses of star J1407 discovered in 2010 were explained in a 2012 paper: planet J1407b has a massive ring system that is eclipsing the star. The first of its kind to be discovered outside of our solar system, J1407b is larger than Jupiter and its ring system is 200 times larger than Saturn's, earning it the moniker "Saturn on Steroids" in the media.

Now a new paper seeks to explain why this giant astronomical structure keeps from flying apart in its orbit. A video in the article illustrates the theory: when the planet makes its closest approach to the star, the retrograde spin of the planet and ring system holds it together.

The article includes a link to an artists conception of what the planet would look like in our sky if it were at the same location as Saturn.

Wikipedia has an article about J1407 and mentions that J1407b might actually be a brown dwarf with a ring system, as opposed to a planet. I also found several examples of earlier coverage about J1407 and its massively-ringed companion.

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