T he presence of rings around Neptune had been a subject of debate prior to the Voyager 2 encounter. Astronomer observed irregular arcs of material which could be strands of partial rings. However, studies of the probe's photographs revealed that a network of five rings surround Neptune. Two of these rings are bright and narrow, while three fainter rings look more like fuzzy sheets of orbiting materials. Some sections of the bright rings have significantly higher densities than others. The portion of the rings with higher densities may have been what astronomers have been observing for years. The bright rings are located roughly at distances of 53,000 km (33,000 miles) and 63,000 km (39,000 miles). One broad ring is located at 42,000 km (25,000 miles) while others are in a zone between the bright rings.