Jupiters Rings Revealed
Explanation:
Why does Jupiter have rings?
Jupiter's rings
were discovered in 1979 by the passing
Voyager 1 spacecraft,
but their origin was a mystery.
Data from the
Galileo spacecraft that orbited
Jupiter from 1995 to 2003 later confirmed that
these rings
were created by
meteoroid impacts on
small nearby moons.
As a small meteoroid strikes tiny
Adrastea,
for example, it will
bore into the moon, vaporize, and explode dirt and dust off into a
Jovian orbit.
Pictured above
is an
eclipse of the Sun by
Jupiter, as viewed from Galileo.
Small dust particles high in
Jupiter's atmosphere,
as well as the
dust particles that
compose the rings,
can be seen by
reflected sunlight.
APOD Retrospective:
Today and
Every
Day
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
