The
rings of Neptune consist primarily of five principal
rings and were first discovered (as "arcs") in 1984 in Chile by
Patrice Bouchet, Reinhold Häfner and Jean Manfroid at
La Silla Observatory (ESO) during an observing program proposed by André Brahic and Bruno Sicardy from
Paris Observatory, and at Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory by F. Vilas and L.-R. Elicer for a program led by William Hubbard. They were eventually imaged in 1989 by the
Voyager 2 spacecraft. At their densest, they are comparable to the less dense portions of
Saturn's main rings such as the C ring and the Cassini Division, but much of Neptune's ring system is quite tenuous, faint and
dusty, more closely resembling the
rings of Jupiter.
Neptune's rings are named after astronomers who contributed important work on the planet:
Galle,
Le Verrier,
Lassell,
Arago, and
Adams. Neptune also has a faint unnamed ring coincident with the orbit of the moon
Galatea. Three other moons orbit between the rings:
Naiad,
Thalassa and
Despina.