The Formation of Jupiter's Faint Rings
Joseph A. Burns,
1*
Mark R. Showalter,
2
Douglas P. Hamilton,
3
Philip D. Nicholson,
1
Imke de Pater,
4
Maureen E. Ockert-Bell,
1
Peter C. Thomas
1
Observations by the Galileo spacecraft and the Keck telescope
showed that Jupiter's outermost (gossamer) ring is actually two rings
circumscribed by the orbits of the small satellites Amalthea and Thebe.
The gossamer rings' unique morphology--especially the rectangular end
profiles at the satellite's orbit and the enhanced intensities along
the top and bottom edges of the rings--can be explained by collisional
ejecta lost from the inclined satellites. The ejecta evolves inward
under Poynting-Robertson drag. This mechanism may also explain the
origin of Jupiter's main ring and suggests that faint rings may
accompany all small inner satellites of the other jovian planets.
1 Center for Radiophysics and Space Research,
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
2 Space,
Telecommunications and Radioscience Laboratory, Stanford University,
Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
3 Department of Astronomy,
University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
4 Department of Astronomy, University of California,
Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
jab16{at}cornell.edu
