Scientists find rings of Jupiter are shaped in shadow

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Jupiters rings consist of bands of widely scattered dust particles generated by the impact of space debris into the planets small inner moons Adrastea Metis Amalthea and Thebe. This dust is organized into a main ring an inner halo and two fainter and ...
Jupiter's rings consist of bands of widely scattered dust particles generated by the impact of space debris into the planet's small inner moons, Adrastea, Metis, Amalthea and Thebe. This dust is organized into a main ring, an inner halo, and two fainter and more distant gossamer rings. The rings largely are bounded by the orbits of these four moons. However, a faint outward protrusion of dust (not show here) extends beyond the orbit of Thebe.Courtesy NASA

Scientists from the University of Maryland and the Max-Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany appear to have solved a long-standing mystery about the cause of anomalies in Jupiter's gossamer rings.


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