Rings of Neptune 1846 when William Lassell, the discoverer of Neptune's largest moon, Triton, thought he had seen a ring around the planet. However, his claim was never confirmed and it is likely that it was an observational artifact. The first reliable detection of a ring was made in 1968 by stellar occultation, although that result would go unnoticed until 1977 when the rings of Uranus were discovered. Soon after the Uranus discovery, a team from Villanova University led by Harold J. Reitsema began searching for rings around Neptune. On 24 May 1981, they detected a dip in a star's brightness during one
Space exploration winds of any planet in the Solar System, measured as high as 2,100 km/h. "Voyager 2" also examined Neptune's ring and moon system. It discovered 900 complete rings and additional partial ring "arcs" around Neptune. In addition to examining Neptune's three previously known moons, "Voyager 2" also discovered five previously unknown moons, one of which, Proteus, proved to be the last largest moon in the system. Data from "Voyager 2" supported the view that Neptune's largest moon, Triton, is a captured Kuiper belt object. The dwarf planet Pluto presents significant challenges for spacecraft because of its great distance from Earth