Galileo's Legacy at Jupiter
Sunday, September 21, 2003
JPL/NASA
The Structure of Jupiter's Gossamer Ring
Jupiter's rings are seen in a mosaic of five images taken by the Solid State Imaging camera aboard NASA's Galileo spacecraft on October 5, 1996The spacecraft was located only about 0.15 degrees above the ring plane, making the images highly foreshortened. The appearance and geometry of these rings is intimately connected with the size, orbital position, and orbital inclinations of the four small inner satellites Metis, Adrastea, Amalthea and Thebe. Based on the information in these images the rings are a short lived dynamic phenomena that is the result of small dust particles being ejected from the moons as a result of impacts due to energetic particles in the magnetosphere.
Image Credit: JPL/NASA
On Sept. 21, NASA’s Galileo mission will come to an end when the hardy spacecraft plunges into the crushing pressure of Jupiter’s atmosphere. This planned maneuver will prevent the risk of Galileo drifting to an unwanted impact with the moon Europa, which may harbor a subsurface ocean.
(Much, much more: JPL.NASA.gov/Webcast/Galileo/)
2003 © JPL/NASA.
Dan
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Galileo's Legacy at Jupiter . . .