SPACE — On March 4, 1979, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft took the first photo of the rings around Jupiter. This is the first time anyone has seen Jupiter’s rings.
Because Jupiter’s rings are so thin and faint, it is very difficult to see them from Earth using ground-based telescopes. Even for spacecraft near Jupiter, the rings are essentially invisible, unless the camera views them from the edge or from an angle where sunlight is shining directly on them.
This photo from NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft was the first to show Jupiter’s rings, on March 4, 1979. Image: NASA/JPL
Since Voyager 1 first spotted the rings, other space missions such as Juno and Galileo have continued to study them. Scientists believe the rings were formed by comets colliding with Jupiter’s moons and kicking up dust into the planet’s orbit.
For your information, Jupiter has 92 moons orbiting it. However, this number does not reflect the complexity of the Jovian system of moons, rings and asteroids (the system around Jupiter). Space.com
2024-03-04 16:57:00
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